A key Tory election campaign figure used “inside information” from a private meeting called by Rishi Sunak to bet on the general election date months before it took place, a court heard.
The Conservative Party’s former director of campaigning Anthony Lee and his parliamentary candidate wife Laura placed more than £2,000 worth of bets from March 10 and May 21 2024, standing to win more than £23,000 had their cheating not been uncovered, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Lee “abused” inside information that July 4 was the working election date by passing it to his wife so they could profit, prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC said.
Meanwhile, Amy Hind, the wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind, also placed bets based on information from either him or figures at the party’s headquarters, a sentencing hearing for all three defendants was told on Friday.
The court heard that former prime minister Mr Sunak held a private Downing Street meeting on March 10 of that year to discuss possible dates.
A rain-soaked Rishi Sunak famously called the general election in a speech outside 10 Downing Street (PA)
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It was attended by a small group including elections guru Isaac Levido and Mr Sunak’s then parliamentary private secretary Craig Williams, the court heard.
Days before that, Anthony Lee was privy to meetings with key Tory figures, including email correspondence entitled “Crazy idea: Campaign discussion”, the court was told.
Before the meeting, Mr Sunak had sent a document setting out three options to consider, with potential polling dates ranging from May 2 to July 4, prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC said.
Neither Lee nor his wife attended the meeting, but as it unfolded the couple began betting online on the election being held in July or between July and September, the court heard.
Ms Johnson said: “Although not at Number 10, the overwhelming inference is that Anthony Lee was receiving inside information as the meeting went on and was acting upon it.”
She added: “Together they were using it to make a profit for themselves.”
Lee placed or tried to place 71 bets during the period, while his wife placed eight and attempted a ninth, the court heard.
All bar £55 worth of bets was staked on “July” or the bracket “July-September”, it was said.
Anthony Lee, 49, “was part and parcel of the group charged with delivering the election campaign at the very highest level of the party machine”, Ms Johnson said.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating.
Craig Williams admitted to cheating at gambling, but will not be sentenced until other party officials and insiders who are also accused of cheating at gambling stand trial (PA)
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Laura Lee, 38, was head of international at Conservative Party HQ and had been selected as a parliamentary candidate for Bristol North West.
She admitted one charge of the offence.
Ms Johnson told the court: “What is unique to this case is the harm, and one doesn’t want to sound unduly pious about this, but the harm that this conduct has caused to the democratic system as a whole.
“The selection of the date of the general election is a matter uniquely for the sitting prime minister, it is a benefit that a sitting prime minister has.
“It gives the governing party a tactical advantage the other parties do not have, because it enables them to prepare in a way the other parties may guess at, but do not have concrete knowledge of.
“Mr Lee was one of the individuals whose very job was to make the most of that legitimate tactical advantage but what he did instead was abuse the information in order to make personal profit.”
She added: “At a time when the public confidence in the political class as a whole is low, conduct such as this does not assist in giving the public the proper confidence that people involved in the democratic process won’t abuse their knowledge for personal benefit.”
Anthony Lee’s barrister Richard Pratt KC told the court that his client did not concretely know the working date of the election, saying it “still represented a gamble from his point of view”.
The barrister told the court: “It was always possible the Prime Minister could change his mind.”
Mr Pratt said there “wasn’t any direct manipulation” by the defendant.
The general election was held on July 4 2024 (PA)
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Hind, 36, who was a business support manager at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority at the time of her offending, had also pleaded guilty to cheating on the date of the election.
She had placed or attempted to place seven bets worth more than £2,300, all but one of them on a July election date, prosecutors say.
Had she been successful with placing them she would have stood to make more than £26,000, it was said.
Ms Johnson said that Hind was made aware of the July 4 working date “either by her husband or one of her close contacts she had at CCHQ”.
The barrister said: “She knew that the information was confidential and secret.
“That knowledge gave her an advantage when she placed bets on the date of the general election.”
Neither of the defendants have previous convictions and they are all of good previous character, the court heard.
They will be sentenced by Judge Tony Baumgartner later on Friday.
Williams, who was Tory MP for Montgomeryshire and Cardiff North, has also admitted to cheating at gambling, but will not be sentenced until other party officials and insiders who are also accused of cheating at gambling stand trial.
They were all charged after an investigation into allegations that inside information on the date of the 2024 general election had been used to place bets.