Conservatives' campaign chief and his wife who admitted cheating at gambling by betting on date of 2024 General Election are spared jail

A key Conservative campaign chief and his wife have been spared jail after admitting to cheating at gambling by betting on the date of the 2024 General Election. 

Anthony Lee - the Tories' former director of campaigning - used 'inside information' from a private meeting called by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to bet on the general election date months before it took place. 

Lee, 49, and his wife, parliamentary candidate Laura Lee, 38, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to placing 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 unearthed.

At a sentencing hearing held on Friday, it was 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. 

He was sentenced to 10 months and two weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, while his wife was sentenced to four months and two weeks' imprisonment, suspended for a year.

The court also heard Amy Hind, the wife of former Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind, placed bets based on information from either him or figures at the party's headquarters.

She was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, suspended for a year. 

Sentencing, Judge Tony Baumgartner said the trio's conduct 'risked undermining' the confidence the public has in the Conservative Party 'as an institution'.

The court heard Mr Sunak held a private Downing Street meeting on March 10 of that year to discuss possible dates. It was attended by a small group including elections guru Isaac Levido and Mr Sunak's then parliamentary private secretary, Craig Williams.

Days before that, Lee was privy to meetings with key Conservative figures, including email correspondence entitled 'Crazy idea: Campaign discussion'.

Before the meeting, prosecutor Zoe Johnson KC said Mr Sunak had sent a document setting out three options to consider, with potential polling dates ranging from May 2 to July 4.

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.

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. All bar £55 worth of bets was staked on 'July' or the bracket 'July-September', it was heard.

He '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.

His wife 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 his client did not concretely know the working date of the election, saying it 'still represented a gamble from his point of view'.

Mr Pratt said: 'It was always possible the Prime Minister could change his mind,' and that there 'wasn't any direct manipulation' by the defendant.

The court heard Hind - who was a business support manager at the NHS Counter Fraud Authority at the time of her offending -  had placed or attempted to place seven bets worth more than £2,300, all but one of them on a July election date.

Had she been successful with placing them she would have stood to make more than £26,000, it was said.

Ms Johnson said 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.'

The trio are now subject to a 12-month prohibited activity requirement, banning them from accessing or using online gambling websites or applications.

Lee was ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and pay more than £6,600 in compensation, while his wife must carry out 40 hours of unpaid work and pay £4,265.

Amy Hind was ordered to complete 50 hours of unpaid work.

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.