How much further can the Tories sink? Now all bets are off

Editorial: The prime minister has finally pulled his support from the parliamentary candidates accused of misconduct in the gambling row – but not before more damage has been done to the party’s rock-bottom electoral chances

Rishi Sunak has withdrawn the Tory party’s support for Craig Williams, left, and Laura Saunders in the aftermath of the betting scandal (PA/Getty)

When it was first reported that Craig Williams, the prime minister’s parliamentary private secretary, had placed a bet on the date of the election, he admitted: “I put a flutter on the general election some weeks ago.”

For two weeks, Rishi Sunak has hidden behind the fiction that “it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded”, as the party said in a statement at the time. His spokespeople, when asked why Mr Williams and Laura Saunders, another parliamentary candidate alleged to have bet on the election date, had not been suspended, simply repeated that it would be wrong to pre-empt the investigations.

Until Tuesday, when it suddenly became right to pre-empt the investigations, and the Conservative Party disowned both of them. The defence was always nonsense because Mr Williams at least had admitted what he had done and said it was an “error of judgement”.