{"id":82719,"date":"2024-06-27T18:10:11","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T18:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/27\/rishi-sunaks-most-senior-adviser-liam-booth-smith-interviewed-as-witness-by-gambling-commission-in-election-bets-probe\/"},"modified":"2024-06-27T18:10:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T18:10:11","slug":"rishi-sunaks-most-senior-adviser-liam-booth-smith-interviewed-as-witness-by-gambling-commission-in-election-bets-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/27\/rishi-sunaks-most-senior-adviser-liam-booth-smith-interviewed-as-witness-by-gambling-commission-in-election-bets-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Rishi Sunak’s most senior adviser Liam Booth-Smith interviewed as witness by Gambling Commission in election bets probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rishi<\/div>


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Rishi Sunak’s most senior adviser in Downing Street has been interviewed in the investigation into bets by Conservatives on the date of the general election.<\/p>\n

Liam Booth-Smith, Downing Street chief of staff, was interviewed last week by senior Gambling Commission officials and questioned about who knew about the timing of the election.<\/p>\n

Sources have emphasised to Sky News that Mr Booth-Smith is not a suspect in the gambling investigation and was interviewed as a witness and was “asked for help”.<\/p>\n

Election latest: Love Actually star backs Greens<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Described as the prime minister’s most trusted ally, Mr Booth-Smith has worked for Mr Sunak since he was chancellor, when his fondness for leather jackets earned him the nickname ‘the Treasury Travolta’.<\/p>\n

Aged 37, he was brought up in a single-parent household in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Before working for Mr Sunak, he also worked for Boris Johnson in Number 10.<\/p>\n

Last year the New Statesman magazine placed Mr Booth-Smith at ninth place on a list of the 50 most powerful people in British Conservative politics.<\/p>\n

According to a Gambling Commission insider, Mr Booth-Smith was interviewed by “senior officials within the Gambling Commission, more senior than investigators”.<\/p>\n

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\n Image:<\/span>
\n Rishi Sunak and Liam Booth-Smith in October 2021. Pic: PA
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No plans to interview Sunak<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sky News has also been told there are currently no plans to interview the prime minister as part of the investigation into bets on the election date.<\/p>\n

A commission source added: “However, if this was to be the case it’s most likely the Met would lead on this type of interview of a high-profile investigation.”<\/p>\n

During the cash-for-honours scandal in 2006-07, Sir Tony Blair was interviewed by police three times about whether loans from wealthy Labour donors were sought in return for peerages.<\/p>\n

Each time Sir Tony was interviewed it was as a witness and inside Downing Street. He was not arrested and the interviews were not under caution.<\/p>\n

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During the ‘partygate’ scandal in 2022 Boris Johnson was asked to complete a questionnaire and then became the first prime minister to be questioned by police under caution.<\/p>\n

The disclosure that Mr Booth-Smith has been interviewed by the gambling regulator came as Mr Sunak repeatedly refused to say whether he told his parliamentary aide Craig Williams about the date of the election.<\/p>\n

Former Tory candidate subject to ‘live criminal investigation’<\/strong><\/p>\n

It also came 24 hours after Sky News revealed<\/strong><\/a> that Mr Williams, Tory candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, was interviewed by Gambling Commission officials over his bet on the timing of the general election.<\/p>\n

Mr Williams was cautioned and interviewed by two ex-police officers and a former HMRC official who are now investigators at the commission, according to a Gambling Commission insider.<\/p>\n

It is understood the commission is now conducting a “live criminal investigation” and Mr Williams could face prosecution, a caution or no further action, depending on the evidence.<\/p>\n

It was revealed two weeks ago that Mr Williams placed a \u00a3100 bet on a July election just three days before Mr Sunak announced the election on 22 May.<\/p>\n

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\n Parliamentary aide Craig Williams admitted to betting on the election date. Pic: PA
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He was reported to have placed a bet with bookmakers Ladbrokes on Sunday 19 May in his Welsh constituency, which was the Tories’ safest seat in Wales at the 2019 election, with a majority of over 12,000.<\/p>\n

Admitting he made the bet, Mr Williams said: “I put a flutter on the general election some weeks ago.<\/p>\n

“This has resulted in some routine inquiries and I confirm I will fully cooperate with these.”<\/p>\n

The Gambling Commission is not only investigating bets made by Conservatives.<\/p>\n

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\n Image:<\/span>
\n Dropped Labour candidate Kevin Craig
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Labour’s candidate in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich, Kevin Craig<\/strong><\/a>, who bet on the Tories to win the seat, is also being investigated and has been suspended by Sir Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n

The latest statement on the gambling probe from the Metropolitan Police has revealed that seven police officers are being investigated for betting on the date of the election.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rishi Sunak’s most senior adviser in Downing Street has been interviewed in the investigation into bets by Conservatives on the date of the general election. Liam Booth-Smith, Downing Street chief of staff, was interviewed last week by senior Gambling Commission officials and questioned about who knew about the timing of the election. Sources have emphasised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/06\/768x432\/skynews-rishi-sunak-liam-booth-smith_6592753.jpg?20240627182246","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[13501,5091,73173,3559,50,16795,13069,23694,322,1030,10650,9725,24622],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82719"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82721,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82719\/revisions\/82721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}