Newly-knighted former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, late of this parish, has been hauled in for questioning by the UK Gambling Commission (GC), who are investigating the scandal of Conservative MPs betting on the outcome of the recent general election, won by Labour in a landslide.
Sir Oliver, a staunch ally of former prime minister Rishi Sunak, was the penultimate Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport–the government department that oversees the gambling industry–before being appointed Cabinet Officer and deputy prime minister in the fag days of Tory rule.
The illegal election betting scam, allegedly involving a number of Conservative MPs, was just one of several scandals that roiled the last and previous Tory administrations, from partying during the Covid-19 Lockdown, to accepting freebies–seemingly a contagious Westminster disease, as the Labour Party’s current travails testify–, and disrespecting the national commemoration of the D-Day landings that freed western Europe from the Nazi menace.
Dowden, MP for Hertsmere in Herefordshire since 2015, and currently Shadow Secretary of State for the Duchy of Lancaster (pictured, right), is the most senior figure to be interviewed to date in the ongoing GC probe.
Sleaze
According to highly placed and reliable sources, he is also thought to have been interviewed by police over the issue that shocked even jaded voters despite years of Tory political sleaze.
The GC investigation is exploring whether Tory officials broke gambling rules by using their inside knowledge to place bets on the announcement of a surprise July election.
It has also been reported that Liam Booth-Smith, now Baron Booth-Smith, who served as Sunak’s Downing Street Chief of Staff from October 2022 to July 2024, and Craig Williams, Sunak’s former parliamentary private secretary, who lost his Montgomeryshire seat in the recent election, like 251 other Conservative MPs, have also been grilled by the commission.
The betting scandal broke when Williams admitted that he had put a £100 bet on the putative day of the election only days before Sunak made the official announcement.
Although Williams–not to be confused with the eponymous top Australian jockey–tried to pass off his action as a “flutter”, he was savaged by an incredulous public and publicly disowned by his astonished party.
He remained on the ballot paper in his Welsh constituency but came third behind Labour and Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform.
The Gambling Commission inquiry continues apace and is set to continue for many months.
