Scottish secretary says he placed bets on date but has ‘not breached any gambling rules’

Scottish Secretary says he placed bets on date but has ‘not breached any gambling rules’, is not under investigation

Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary and a Tory cabinet minister, revealed on Tuesday evening that he had placed three bets on the date of the general election, one of which was successful, but said that he wanted to make “absolutely clear I have not breached any gambling rules”.

“I had no knowledge of the date of the election until the day it was called. As I have said previously, I placed no bets in May and am not under investigation by the Gambling Commission,” he said.

The news comes as a Conservative politician has become the fifth party figure to be investigated by the gambling watchdog for allegedly placing a suspicious bet on the general election date, as the developing scandal continued to overshadow Rishi Sunak’s campaign.

The Gambling Commission has informed Russell George, a Tory member of the Welsh parliament who represents the same constituency as Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide Craig Williams, that he is part of its inquiry.

In a statement to the Guardian, George said:

Whilst I will cooperate fully with the Gambling Commission, it would not be appropriate to comment on this independent and confidential process.

Doing so would only jeopardise and undermine the investigation. It is the Gambling Commission, not the media, that has the responsibility, powers and resources to properly investigate these matters and determine what, if any, action should be taken.

I have stepped back from the shadow cabinet while the investigation is ongoing. I have done this as I do not wish to be an unnecessary distraction to their work.”

More on this and other developments shortly.

Here is what is coming up today:

• 9.30am: Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting on campaign visit in the East Midlands. They will visit a GP practiceas Labour sets out plans to end the 8am scramble for GP appointments and bring back the family doctor.
• 10.00am: Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton and Edinburgh West candidate Christine Jardine to visit Edinburgh Zoo. They will feed the sloths and tour the soon-to-be completed solar meadow which will help power the zoo.
• 10.30am: SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn will join the SNP candidate for Gordon and Buchan, Richard Thomson, on the campaign trail in Inverurie.
• 12:00: Scottish Greens general election media call with co-leader Lorna Slater in Inverkeithing.
• 1pm: Reform chairman Richard Tice to give a press conference in Grangemouth.
• 3.20pm: first minister John Swinney on the campaign trail in Glasgow. He will be with SNP candidate Carol Monaghan.
• 8.15pm: Head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer to air on BBC One, hosted by Mishal Husain.

Rishi Sunak has intervened in the spat between Kemi Badenoch and actor David Tennant, suggesting the Doctor Who star is “the problem”.

Equalities minister, Badenoch, previously said she “will not shut up” after Tennant suggested he wanted a world where she “doesn’t exist any more” during a speech at an awards show.

Sunak said: “Freedom of speech is the most powerful feature of our democracy. If you’re calling for women to shut up and wishing they didn’t exist, you are the problem.”