Gambling and Institutionalised Corruption

That the outgoing Conservative government is the most corrupt of modern times is without question. Off the top of my head, there's cash for peerages, Covid procurement, fossil fuel money, kickbacks to private developers, Osborne's PFIs, and much, much more. For Boris Johnson the premiership was but a means of maximising his earning potential for the minimal exertion of effort. For Liz Truss, her ill-fated programme just so happened to benefit close friends that financially backer her leadership campaign. And for Rishi Sunak, our wealthiest Prime Minister ever, there is his using office as a bridge between the family business Infosys - the giant of Indian IT capital - and Silicon Valley.

Those lower down the Tory herd have to make do with scantier troughs, but their faces are well and truly in there. I'm reminded of Scott Benton, the disgraced former MP for Blackpool South caught out in a cash-for-lobbying scandal. The sums involved were hundreds to thousands of pounds a pop. Again, for what was a relatively modest stipend, Owen Paterson was dumped out of the Commons for lobbying ministers on his employer's behalf. Quite a consequential event as it happens, ensuring Johnson was on the skids before the party gate revelations hit. Big risks for small change. If you're going to be corrupt, at least hold out for proper funds.

This is the context of the outbreak of the gambling scandal. Five people, four of which were close to the centre of Tory operations, are subject to investigation following the placing of a series of bets in the timing of the general election. Signs that the balloon was up were only evident late on the evening prior to the announcement. There was no lengthy speculation that the election was imminent and, indeed, most of the discourse up until Tuesday 21st May was whether it would be in early or late Autumn. The bets now under scrutiny were part of a surge of stakes placed in the days beforehand betting on a July contest (coincident with interesting movements in YouGov's share price too). Coming after years of Tory corruption, the situation couldn't look more suss.

The thing is, the stories don't have to be true. With the Tories now trailing Reform in a poll or two, we're now at the stage where waverers have made their minds up and most people, for whatever reason, have concluded the Tories can't go any lower. It doesn't matter if their client press are running lurid articles about Labour "supermajorities" and how Keir Starmer will collectivise second homes (or something similar), or that Nigel Farage is uniquely frightful because he won't toe the establishment line on Russia, the betting revelations confirms anti-Tory voters, right, left, and centre, that the party is a den of iniquity, if not a nest of thieves.

Apart from affirming what most people feel about the Conservatives, there are more consequences in the pipeline. As two of the accused are candidates it's interesting that Sunak has refused to suspend them. True, they haven't been found to have done anything wrong yet but the same was true of Tory politicians who had the whip taken from them during the last parliament. Albeit they were, invariably, accused of more serious wrongdoing. Sunak's kicking this can down the road for someone else, whoever that might be, to deal with. Their hope has got to be that none of the surviving rump of Tory MPs are so accused/found guilty, because a new leader needs a by-election like a hole in the head. Not that this will be any of Sunak's concern, seeing how he's more or less checked out of this campaign and has probably written his resignation letter already. He doesn't care, it's not his problem.

But this might also present something of a headache for Keir Starmer too. Making capital from the allegations, he's made it clear their suspension from the Labour Party would have been a foregone conclusion. But there are a lot of incoming new MPs, and some of whom had selection "interviews" no more elaborate than a phone call asking if they would be willing to stand. This is how things are done in the changed Labour Party. The problem is while (hopefully) no one would be stupid enough to expose themselves in the way our accused Conservatives have, the flattery from the press and, crucially, the bounty of freebies, VIP invites, and donations coming their way will turn heads. Already, the shadow cabinet have had their coffers stuffed with money from big business. I'm sure private health only donates to Wes Streeting because he's a nice chap.

The gambling allegations come to the Tories just as the party is extinguished in the ash tray. But despite Starmer's grandstanding, Labour are sowing the seeds for its own bumper crop of corruption scandals too.

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