THE CONSERVATIVE Party has withdrawn support from candidate Craig Williams after he was implicated in the General Election betting row.
Rishi Sunak acted after coming under mounting pressure within the party to take a tougher stance on the alleged use of inside information to bet on the timing of the July 4 poll.
Mr Williams, who was the Prime Minister’s parliamentary aide, is standing in the new Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr constituency - which covers Chirk and other south western areas of Wrexham.
Mr Williams, and Laura Saunders, standing in Bristol North who has also been implicated, will no longer have the support of the party.
Mr Williams has apologised for an "error of judgement" in placing a bet on the election date - but has refused to answer whether it was placed with the benefit of inside information.
READ MORE: MP in betting probe who's standing in new Wrexham constituency has placard defaced
A Conservative Party spokesman said: “As a result of ongoing internal inquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as parliamentary candidates at the forthcoming General Election.
“We have checked with the Gambling Commission that this decision does not compromise the investigation that they are conducting, which is rightly independent and ongoing.”
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The Prime Minister has been under pressure to act amid Tory concerns the issue was further damaging their electoral chances.
Steve Baker became the first serving minister to call for those who placed bets on the election date to be suspended by the party, on Monday night.
The Northern Ireland minister told ITV’s Peston that Mr Sunak should take action: “I would call them up and ask them, ‘Did you do it?’ And if they did it, then they are suspended.
“But the Prime Minister would have to answer why he hasn’t done it, I haven’t got inside information on why the Prime Minister hasn’t done it.”
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