Officer arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, say Metropolitan police
Things are only getting worse for Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party in the UK. These are self-inflicted wounds and they're happening just two weeks before a general election in which the Tories are predicted to have their worst showing since World War II (if lucky) or the Napoleonic Wars (if unlucky).
One of Rishi Sunak’s close protection officers has been arrested over alleged bets about the timing of the election. The officer was arrested on Monday on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the Metropolitan police said in a statement. The news comes a week on from the Guardian’s revelation that Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, Craig Williams, had placed a £100 bet on a July election just three days before the prime minister named the date. As a result of that incident, the Gambling Commission conducted a wider investigation and found information that led to the decision to investigate the officer. The Metropolitan police said it was contacted last Friday by the Gambling Commission, which informed the force that it was investigating alleged bets related to the timing of an election by a constable from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command.
There's also a scandal involving the wife of Chris Philp – Sunak's Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire. Philp takes a hard line on law and order but apparently his wife is engaged in corporate espionage.
Policing minister’s wife reported to CPS over corporate espionage claims
A leading businesswoman who is married to the policing minister, Chris Philp, has been reported to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) by a former employer and is being sued in the high court over allegations of corporate espionage. Elizabeth Philp, 40, whose husband has called for “zero tolerance” to all crime, is accused of data-handling offences and unlawfully using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business. She denies the allegations and is countersuing her former employer, whom she accuses of cyber-attacking the website of the company she subsequently founded.
The pro-Conservative Daily Telegraph on its front page placed a map of 2019 election results next to its projections for the July election. On the UK political color palette: Red = Labour, Blue = Conservatives, Orange = Liberal Democrats, Yellow = Scottish National Party, Light Green = Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales), Medium Green = the Greens.
Wipeout indeed! Savanta, which conducted the poll the Daily Telegraph based its 2024 map on, projects between 481 and 516 seats for Labour (depending on how results are analyzed) in the 650 seat House of Commons.
Sunak may see the writing on the wall and could be thinking of moving to California if he personally gets booted from his seat in the constituency of Richmond and Northallerton. Richmond and Northallerton is currently considered a tossup.
Rishi Sunak’s California escape hatch: His $7.2 million beach home
