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Politicians who delete betting scandal evidence from WhatsApp ‘committing offence’, ex-Met Police deputy chief warns
27 June 2024, 07:01 | Updated: 27 June 2024, 07:06
Politicians implicated in the ongoing election betting scandal who delete evidence, such as messages from WhatsApp, could be committing a "serious offence", a former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner has warned.
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Stephen Roberts, who also served as the Met's director of professional standards, labelled the behaviour of those involved in the scandal "appalling" and "shabby".
Mr Roberts also told LBC that it is difficult to know whether any alleged bets made on the timing of the election were done so illegally.
However, Mr Roberts added that should any evidence be destroyed, including WhatsApp messages relating to alleged bets, that would constitute a serious offence.
"If people start to delete evidence in conjunction with other people, you're then into conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, which in many ways is easier to prove [than whether they acted illegally in betting] - and is an equally serious offence," he told LBC.
"It's been said so often that in political scandals particularly, it's not the original behaviour that gets people into trouble and gets them convicted. It's the attempt at cover up.
"There doesn't need to be an agreement not to destroy things if people destroy things. Basically, they are committing quite a serious offence."
He added: "I appreciate we're talking largely hypothetically because we don't know the exact circumstances that the officer was in and indeed the advisors of the prime minister."
Mr Roberts' comments comes after it was reported on Wednesday that up to 15 Conservative Party candidates and officials are being investigated for alleged betting.
That is in addition to a number of Conservatives who have been suspended, including Craig Williams and Laura Saunders.
Meanwhile, five police officers are being investigated after one officer - who was part of Rishi Sunak's close protection team - was arrested over an alleged bet.
Home Secretary pressed on his party's cooperation with the Gambling Commission's investigation
The Metropolitan Police has said it will begin investigating a "small number" of cases relating to the ongoing betting scandal involving a number of politicians.
A Met Police spokesperson said: "The Met is not taking over the investigation into bets on the timing of the General Election.
"The Gambling Commission will continue to lead the investigation into cases where the alleged offending is limited to breaches of the Gambling Act only.
"Met detectives will lead on investigating a small number of cases to assess whether the alleged offending goes beyond Gambling Act offences to include others, such as misconduct in public office.
"We will provide further information tomorrow."
Mr Roberts comments came after the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, told LBC that he was ‘furious’ after learning about alleged election bets being made within his party.
Mr Cleverly also insisted the government is taking the gambling regulator's investigation seriously.
Pressed by LBC’s Iain Dale on his reaction to the betting scandal, Mr Cleverly said: “I was furious, I know the Prime Minister was furious that was a view that was echoed across the party.
“We’ve said we’re not going to comment on the Gambling Commission’s investigation and we will stick by that.
“But we did conduct an internal review, and quite rightly in my mind, the behaviour of the individuals fell well short of what we expect of our candidates which is why we’ve withdrawn the support for them at this election.
“Public service is about serving the public, which should be at the forefront of people’s minds, particularly during a General Election campaign.
He added: “I was more than a little bit frustrated and angry about this behaviour.”
Quizzed further on the arrest of Rishi Sunak’s specialist protection officer, but advisors potentially escaping criminal charges, Mr Cleverly said: “The professional standard’s regime within policing is incredibly important, we give police officers quite very rightly so enhanced powers, therefore the confidence in the police is incredibly important and so we have a very tough professional standards regime.
“The application of that regime is part of the independent of police activity, but we have taken action against both the officials and the candidates."
Asked if he could give an assurance that all potential evidence would be retained and nothing deleted: “I have no doubt at all that he [Rishi Sunak] will have sent the message with no ambiguity that we take this seriously, we must be seen to take this seriously, we will cooperate and as I say, we have already taken action on the cases we know about.”
At least five Conservatives are being investigated by the Gambling Commission as part of its inquiry into wagers on the timing of the July 4 poll.
Speaking on LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast Wednesday, Mr Stride said that he did not know how many people were being looked into but "clear and robust action" would be taken against those who are found to have broken the rules.
When asked about whether there could be more involved, Mr Stride said: "I don’t know what the number is, what the number may or may not end up as or which parties might be involved."
He added: "I don’t know where all of this will lead, it could be that there will be others across different political parties going forward.
"What I do know is that, in the case of those Conservative candidates who are being investigated by the Gambling Commission, they have been suspended, they are not supported as Conservative candidates at this election and the Prime Minister has been very clear that in the event they are found to have broken the rules by the Gambling Commission they will be expelled from the Conservative party. Very clear and robust action."
Watch again: Nick Ferrari is joined by Mel Stride | 26/06/24
On Tuesday, cabinet minister Alister Jack admitted to placing three bets on the election date, one of which was successful.
However, Mr Jack is not being investigated by the regulator because he staked the money earlier in the year, before the period covered by the watchdog's probe into the alleged use of inside information.
He denied previous reports in which he claimed during an interview conducted shortly after the snap election that he had won £2,100 on a bet.
A Labour candidate was also drawn into the ever-deepening scandal on Tuesday night after it emerged that Kevin Craig was suspended for betting against himself in the upcoming election.
He apologised on Twitter and admitted he likes placing bets for "fun" adding that he planned to give any winnings to charity.
His comments come as the final debate between Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer is held on Wednesday evening.
