Politics
Betting Scandal Erupts Ahead of UK General Election: A Major Embarrassment for the Conservatives
(CTN News) – During the final televised discussion between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer ahead of the upcoming general election, a betting scandal involving the ruling Conservative Party grew.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that the Metropolitan Police had taken a more active role in an inquiry into bets placed by senior politicians and bureaucrats on the next general election.
During a heated debate with the prime minister over taxation, immigration, and transgender rights, Starmer criticized top Conservatives for allegedly betting on election dates before they were announced, citing the “wrong instinct” to bet on the country’s future.
Allegations that certain party officials placed wagers on the date of the election, described as political “insider trading” by one senior Conservative figure, Baroness Ruth Davidson, appear destined to haunt what may be the Conservative government’s final days after 14 stormy years in office.
“Firstly, I mean, how tawdry is it?” Davidson railed on last Friday’s Sky News Electoral Dysfunction podcast about the charges plaguing her party, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak since 2022.
Davidson, the previous leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, added, “I genuinely have no words. I’ve been battling elections for over 15 years, and I have no words.”
Allegations that some Conservative candidates and officials bet on the date of Britain’s July 4 general election have grown since it was revealed two weeks ago that Craig Williams, a Rishi Sunak aide, had placed a 100-pound ($127) wager on a July vote just days before Rishi Sunak announced the date to the British public.
So far, five Conservative officials have been listed as under investigation by the Gambling Commission (GC) for allegedly betting on the July election using insider information.
The GC, the United Kingdom organization in charge of regulating gambling regulations, is thought to be investigating up to 15 Conservative Party candidates and executives for allegedly wagering on election timing.
In a separate but related incident, the Conservative Party’s Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack, admitted to putting many modest bets on the election date in March and April, but stated that he broke no regulations and was not being investigated by the GC.
What is the scandal about?
In a twist on the betting scandal, The Sun daily revealed on Wednesday that another Conservative, Philip Davies, bet 8,000 pounds ($10,115) that he would lose his marginal seat of Shipley in West Yorkshire at the next election. Davies told the Sun that he “fully expects to lose” his seat to Labour, who are expected to win, and that it was “nobody’s business” if he opted to gamble against himself.
The betting scandal has not been without consequences for the Labour Party. On Tuesday, the Party removed Kevin Craig from its candidacy after it was revealed that the GC was investigating him for betting that he would lose his own attempt to become MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich in the next election.
Williams, the first person reported under investigation by the Gambling Commission (GC), was running as the Conservative Party candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr in Wales when he was investigated.
The 39-year-old admits to making a “huge error of judgement” in attempting to profit from his 100-pound bet on the election day, with odds of 5-1, implying he might have won 500 pounds ($633). He has not stated if he had inside information of the election date before placing his bet, but Ladbrokes, the betting firm with which he placed the wager, declined to record the bet after flagging him as a “politically exposed person” and referring the matter to the General Court.
Laura Saunders was the second party official to face a GC inquiry as the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West. Saunders was shortly joined by her husband, Tony Lee, the Conservative Party’s director of campaigning, who took a leave of absence after learning that he was also under investigation by the GC.
Williams and Saunders were withdrawn as candidates by their party on Tuesday, but they appear to be contesting their respective seats, implying that they will sit as independents in the House of Commons if won.
Nick Mason, the Conservative Party’s top data officer, became the fourth Conservative to come under scrutiny by the GC after it was reported that he, too, had placed a number of election bets before Rishi Sunak revealed the date of the snap election.
Russell George, a Conservative member of the devolved Welsh Parliament, was named on Tuesday evening as the fifth party figure to face an examination by the GC, despite not standing for a seat in the general election.
An anonymous police policeman from the prime minister’s security detail was arrested on June 17 after being accused of placing a similar bet. According to recent reports, the GC is also investigating five additional police officers.
Section 42 of the 2005 Gambling Act expressly prohibits gamblers from utilizing inside information (insider trading) to place a bet or providing the relevant information to another person to place a bet for them. It carries a maximum two-year prison term.
What does this mean for the Conservative Party’s Genrel election campaign?
The Parliamentary Code of Conduct advises MPs against doing anything that could “significantly damage the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons.”
Rishi Sunak noted on a special episode of BBC Question Time on June 20 that the incident is “a really serious matter – it’s right that they’re being investigated properly by the relevant law enforcement authorities”.
Rishi Sunak stated that he was “incredibly angry” over the charges. “The integrity of that process should be respected,” he told me. “But what I can tell you is, if anyone is found to have broken the rules, not only should they face the full consequences of the law, I will make sure that they are booted out of the Conservative Party.”
Rishi Sunak’s Conservative Party was already lagging Labour in the polls before the betting revelations. According to a recent Savanta study for the Telegraph, this is likely to harm the party even more, with two-thirds of respondents opposing Conservative candidates betting on the election date.
Furthermore, this scandal is just the latest in a long line of controversies that have dogged Britain’s ruling Conservatives in recent years, and it reflects a party that has grown “corpulent with complacency” during its 14 years in power, according to Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London.
“As the 19th-century politician, Lord Acton, once wrote, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,'” Bale said of the Conservative Party’s list of travails, such as “Partygate,” the scandal over parties and gatherings held at then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official residence in Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, which violated lockdown rules.
Bale pointed out: “Because the Labour Party provided no serious opposition to them for a decade, all too many Conservatives, having had it too easy for too long and taking their cue from the very top, got used to thinking they could, as the saying goes, get away with murder.”
He went further: “But that era of impunity was never going to last once Labour recovered its senses and voters grew tired of the government’s failure to deliver on the fundamentals.”
Politics
Millennials in Canada Have Turned their Backs on Justin Trudeau
Justine Trudeau and his Liberal Party are currently engaged in a fierce battle for second place against Jagmeet Singh’s socialist NDP, as both parties find themselves trailing by 20 points behind Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.
A recent poll indicates that 38% of Canadians consider Trudeau to be the most ineffective leader the nation has encountered in over fifty years. An impressive 47% of Canadian Millennials indicated they would support Poilievre if an election were to take place today, while nearly half of all Canadians express a desire for an election to be called this year.
Pierre Poilievre’s strong appeal among young voters can be attributed primarily to economic factors: soaring inflation, a pressing cost-of-living crisis, and the challenge of housing affordability are pushing many away from the Liberals, who have held power for nearly nine years.
According to UnHeard, Millennials are increasingly distancing themselves from Trudeau due to his stringent measures aimed at controlling the internet to combat alleged disinformation, as well as his climate change initiatives, notably the carbon tax.
An increasing number of Canadians are becoming aware of Trudeau’s ineffective policies and his approach to mass immigration. This past summer, there was significant outrage among parents of teenagers and young adults as they observed their children remaining at home without jobs.
The primary concern stemmed from the fact that most low-skilled and entry-level positions were being filled by unskilled, temporary foreign workers, predominantly from India.
There has been a notable rise in criminal activities linked to international students and unvetted temporary residents who are becoming involved with Punjabi gangs in Canada, contributing to a surge in auto thefts nationwide.
Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives are actively seeking to alter Trudeau’s approach to mass immigration and prioritize the construction of more housing should they come into power.
Significantly, Pierre Poilievre is perceived as more trustworthy than Trudeau, with over half of Canadians characterizing Poilievre as “open and honest about his actions, decisions, and intentions,” while only 39% share that sentiment regarding Trudeau.
The characteristics in question may shed light on Poilievre’s favorable polling, particularly among younger voters and women, who have historically leaned towards the Liberals or the NDP rather than the Conservatives.
The Liberal Party’s support has dwindled to an estimated 7% of Canadians, revealing a significant number of disillusioned voters eager for transformation. Poilievre is emerging as the type of leader that resonates with the desires of many Canadians.
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Politics
U.N. Special Rapporteur Calls on Thailand’s Banks to Cut-Off Myanmar Junta
The U.N special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar has said the Bank of Thailand, commercial banks, and the anti-money laundering office are working on measures to stop the Myanmar Junta from acquiring weapons through Thailand’s banking system.
Tom Andrews the U.N. special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said that some banks commercial in Thailand had aided Myanmar Junta’s by facilitating transactions that supplied military equipment to the Junta through the international banking system.
He called on the Bank of Thailand and financial institutions to do more to stop Myanmar’s junta acquiring weapons which they use on civilians to maintain power.
The special rapporteur was in Bangkok to address a parliamentary committee on security, he called on the Thai government to stop financial transactions that help supply weapons to Myanmar’s junta in line with a plan promoted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that sets out an end to violence as a first step toward peace.
In his 2023 report “The Billion Dollar Death Trade,” Andrews noted that Singapore had implemented a clear policy opposing the transfer of weapons to Myanmar.
Thailand’s Banks Lacked Clear Policy
As a result, exports of weapons and related materials from Singapore-registered entities using the formal banking system dropped from almost U.S. $120 million in fiscal year 2022 to just over $10 million over the next 12 months.
However, he said Thailand had no explicit policy position opposing weapons transfer to the Myanmar Junta, which saw exports from Thai-registered entities more than double in 2023, from just over $60 million to nearly $130 million.
He called on Thai Government to conduct a thorough investigation into transfers as Singapore had done into its companies’ dealings.
Andrews told the the committee that five Thai commercial banks and Thai-based companies were assisting Myanmar’s junta obtain weapons, dual-technology items and jet fuel, enabling Military Junta to conduct atrocities against the people.
But said he had found no evidence that the Thai government was involved or was aware of the transactions or that Thai commercial banks had knowledge.
Banks Condemn Myanmar Junta Violence
Meanwhile representatives from Thailand’s central bank, anti-money laundering office and the commercial banks named in the report were also present at the parliamentary meeting at government house in Bangkok.
A representative of the Bank of Thailand said officials were working with the commercial banks and the anti-money laundering office to make sure that enhanced oversight was properly practiced.
The Thai Bankers Association that was also at the parliamentary meeting said it did not have the means to investigate and monitor such irregularities beyond Thailand’s borders.
Mr. Pongsit Chaichatpornsuk, a Thai Bankers Association representative told the committee that If government security agencies tell us, we will stop transactions. We don’t support arms procurement by Myanmar Junta or any military government to violate human rights.
Thailand, which shares a long border with Myanmar and hosts many thousands of refugees fleeing conflict there, has tried to promote dialogue between Myanmar’s military rulers and opposition forces but no progress has been made.
This Article was first published in RFA
Politics
People Rushing Sign Online Petition to Impeach South Korea’s President Crash Site
The Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea said in a statement that an online petition calling for South Korea’s President Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment crashed due to the enormous number of individuals attempting to sign the petition. Saying the National Assembly would resolve the matter as quickly as possible.
Since the petition was launch on the National Assembly’s website on June 20, more than 811,000 people have signed it. The petition urges Parliament to introduce legislation to impeach President Yoon on the grounds that he is unfit for office.
Late on June 30, National Assembly Speaker Mr. Woo Won-shik issued an apology for the disturbance and stated that Parliament would take action to protect the public’s fundamental rights.
People attempting to access the petition on July 1 experienced delays of up to four hours. At one point, an error message indicated that more than 30,000 individuals were waiting to access the site.
South Korea’s Parliament Hesitant
The online petition accuses Yoon of corruption, escalating the risk of conflict with North Korea, and endangering South Koreans’ health by failing to prevent Japan from leaking treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant.
By law, Parliament must assign every petition signed by more than 50,000 people to a committee, which will then decide whether to put it to a vote in the assembly.
However, the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in Parliament, is hesitant to turn the petition into an impeachment bill, according to media reports, with a spokesperson stating that the party has yet to address the topic.
The Parliament can impeach a president with a two-thirds majority. The Constitutional Court then deliberates the motion and decides whether to remove or reinstall the president.
Meanwhile, on Monday Reuters reported North Korea criticized a joint military exercise performed this month by South Korea, Japan, and the United States, according to official media, saying such drills demonstrate the three nations’ alliance has evolved into “the Asian version of NATO”.
On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale combined military drills named “Freedom Edge” featuring navy destroyers, fighter fighters, and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, with the goal of strengthening defenses against missiles, submarines, and air strikes.
The drill was designed at a three-way meeting at Camp David last year to boost military cooperation amid concerns on the Korean peninsula caused by North Korea’s weapons testing.
Pyongyang will not overlook the strengthening of a military bloc led by the United States and its allies, and it would respond aggressively and decisively to defend regional peace, according to North Korea’s foreign ministry, as reported by KCNA.
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