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A former Conservative MP who was Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide when he was prime minster has pleaded guilty to cheating at gambling with bets on the date of the 2024 general election.
Craig Williams, who was the MP for Montgomeryshire and, earlier, Cardiff North, admitted in court to using confidential information to place bets on the timing of the contest.
He had previously said he made a “huge error of judgment” when the Guardian revealed in June 2024 he had placed a £100 bet on a July election just three days before the then prime minister named the date.
As Sunak’s parliamentary private secretary between October 2022 and June 2024, he had been part of the prime minister’s inner circle and was privileged to key information.
On 22 May 2024, Sunak made the surprise announcement that a general election would be held on 4 July.
Williams entered his guilty plea on Monday at a hearing at Southwark crown court, which was told that he had bet £250, £100, and £22.50 on the election date.
Zoe Johnson KC, prosecuting, said three further cheating charges, which Williams denies, would be dropped when he was sentenced.
She said Williams, a member of the Privy Council, was “given a privileged position, he was party to a number of meetings in both Downing Street and Conservative headquarters when the date of the general election was discussed”.
“He has now accepted by his plea that he used highly sensitive and confidential information to place bets and to profit,” she said.
Williams had not entered a plea when he appeared at Westminster magistrates court last year after charges were brought by the Gambling Commission. He will not be sentenced until a number of co-defendants stand trial next year and in 2028.
The hearing on Monday was also told that Amy Hind, 35, the wife of the Conservative deputy digital director, Anthony Hind, has also pleaded guilty to cheating on the date of the election.
She had placed bets of £10, £5, and £20 on the date of the election, before on 13 May 2024 attempting to stake £767 and £700 on a July poll.
Those attempts failed, the court heard, and she attempted to place a £700 bet the following day before successfully placing a £100 bet on a July election, at odds of 11-1.
A separate charge against her husband, 37, that he had cheated at gambling by passing information to his wife was then dropped by prosecutors.
Hind is due to be sentenced by Judge Tony Baumgartner, the recorder of Westminster, on 23 October.
The Gambling Commission, which regulates gambling and supervises gaming law in Britain, launched an inquiry after Williams had placed a bet with the bookmaker Ladbrokes on Sunday 19 May in his local constituency.
Williams was among 15 people facing allegations of cheating by gambling. During the hearing on Monday, 12 co-defendants pleaded not guilty to cheating at gambling.
They included Russell George, who represented Montgomeryshire in the Welsh Senedd but sat as an independent after he was suspended from the Tory group, and Thomas James, the suspended director of the Welsh Conservatives.
Other co-defendents include Jeremy Hunt, 56, who was a close protection officer at the Met and part of the police team working in Downing Street; Anthony Lee, 49, a Conservative party director of campaigning; and Lee’s wife, Laura Saunders, 38, who was the head of international at Tory HQ and a parliamentary candidate for Bristol North-West.
Lee faces two charges, alleging he placed bets himself and passed confidential information to his wife to allegedly help her to cheat at gambling.
A separate hearing last year was told that, before the general election was called, planning took place at Downing Street and Conservative campaign headquarters.
Williams and other defendants were alleged to have placed bets based on confidential information gained from those rooms, or enabled others to place bets by passing that information on.
Two trials are due to take place because of the relatively large number of defendants, with the first one taking place on 6 September next year, and a second on 3 January 2028. The defendants could face prison sentences of up to two years if convicted.
Williams, who served as parliamentary private secretary to Sunak between October 2022 and June 2024, was scheduled to be part of the 2028 trial. The defendants have been given unconditional bail.
The charges came out of Operation Scott, which investigated alleged gambling by politicians and employees of the Conservative party before last year’s general election.
