A Conservative cupboard minister claimed that he received greater than £2,000 betting on a July basic election.
Shortly after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak introduced the election date, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack informed the BBC he had made £2,100 after betting on June and July election dates. He claimed one of many bets was positioned at odds of 25/1.
Final week, Mr Jack informed the BBC the feedback have been “a joke… I used to be pulling your leg”.
At this time, the Scottish Secretary stated in a press release he “didn’t place any bets on the date of the overall election throughout Could”.
Rishi Sunak made his shock election announcement on 22 Could.
“I’m very clear that I’ve by no means, on any event, damaged any Playing Fee guidelines”, stated Mr Jack.
“I didn’t place any bets on the date of the overall election throughout Could – the interval beneath investigation by the Playing Fee.
“Moreover, I’m not conscious of any household or pals inserting bets. I’ve nothing extra to say on this matter.”
A spokesperson for the Playing Fee stated: “We aren’t confirming or denying the id of any people concerned on this investigation.”
Alister Jack had been telling colleagues and journalists for at the very least a yr that he thought a June or July election made probably the most strategic sense for his get together.
He has represented Scotland within the UK cupboard since 2019, beneath the premierships of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
His controversial determination in 2021 to dam the Scottish authorities’s gender self-ID reforms was seen as a major second within the demise of Nicola Sturgeon’s interval as Scotland’s First Minister.
In February 2024, he expressed “remorse” after deleting all of his WhatsApp messages from throughout the pandemic.
He stated he erased his recordsdata to unlock storage capability on his cellphone in November 2021.
