‘Gamble-gate’ will go down as Rishi Sunak’s Covid

The betting virus is killing the Tories’ hopes of avoiding a Labour supermajority, and the prime minister’s response has only served to speed up the rate of infection, writes Andrew Grice

It took Sunak almost two weeks to suspend two Tory candidates (Anthony Upton/The Daily Telegraph/PA)

The gambling scandal engulfing the Conservatives will go down as Rishi Sunak’s Covid. The betting virus is silent. It infects everyone. It is out of control. There is no cure.

Unlike many election claims and counterclaims, the controversy is easily understood by the whole population. One pollster told me the public is “more aware of this story than the Euros”. Deltapoll found that three in four people have heard about the Gambling Commission’s investigation, including 86 per cent of over-65s – a key Tory target.

It is a very untimely reminder of the government’s actions during the real pandemic: the rule-breaking of Partygate; Boris Johnson’s lies about Downing Street parties, and the VIP fast lane for people connected to ministers and officials who offered to sell personal protective equipment to the government. Keir Starmer was able to remind voters of Rishi Sunak’s fixed penalty notice for (unwittingly) attending a birthday party for Johnson.