A conservative candidate for elections in the United Kingdom, Laura Saunders, joins the list of those investigated for her alleged connection with bets on the election date, as revealed this Thursday by the BBC. Saunders would thus be the second ‘Tory’ (Conservative) candidate to be investigated by the Gambling Commission for this same reason, after last week Craig Williams, the Prime Minister’s assistant, acknowledged that she had “made a mistake” by bet money that the elections would be in July.

Saunders, who has worked for the party since 2015 and was currently working for the international training section, is a candidate for the Bristol North West constituency (west of England). It is unknown when the investigated bet was made and what amount was at stake.

A Tory spokesperson explained to the BBC that they have been contacted by the Gaming Commission in reference to “a small number of individuals.” The Minister of Housing, Michael Gove, confirmed to the Sky News channel that two people are being investigated in relation to possible illegal bets, as they could have used internal information about the decision of the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to call the polls on 4 July.

Gove, who is not running for re-election as a deputy, called it “very disturbing” that there have been people trying to benefit from this access to privileged information,” although he recalled that it is “the exception and not the rule.”

In fact, this Wednesday it was also known that a personal security team agent of Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was arrested on Monday after it was learned that he bet on the date of the elections, the London Police confirmed. Scotland Yard said the police officer was suspended and subsequently arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, after the National Gambling Commission said it was investigating several bets on the election date made just before Sunak revealed it on 22 May.

The gambling regulatory body is trying to determine, among other things, whether some people had access to preferential information which gave them an advantage in the pools. The announcement of the date of the elections for the 4th of july It was a surprise in the United Kingdom, since Sunak had indicated that they could be in the autumn.