This is the best summary I could come up with:
A senior Conservative candidate reportedly placed an £8,000 bet on losing his seat at the general election.Sir Philip Davies neither confirmed nor denied the wager, first reported by the Sun, external but rejected suggestions he had done “anything illegal”.Sir Philip, who has been the Tory MP for Shipley since 2005, told the newspaper he expected to lose the seat on 4 July.
Sir Philip said it was “nobody’s business” whether he placed the bet or not.He said: "What’s it got to do with you whether I did or didn’t.
"He added: “And if anyone’s alleging I’ve done anything illegal, they’re very welcome to allege it, but I’m afraid I haven’t.”When contacted by the BBC, Sir Philip said he stood by his comments to the newspaper but did not offer any further comment.The Conservative party has also been approached by the BBC.
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The report about Sir Philip came after several parliamentary candidates were accused of placing bets surrounding the date or outcome of the election.Earlier this week, the Conservative party withdrew support from Craig Williams, the candidate in Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, and Laura Saunders, the candidate in Bristol North West, who are both being investigated by the Gambling Commission.Russell George, a Conservative politician in the Welsh Parliament, is also facing inquiries by the regulator and has “stepped back” from his frontbench role.Meanwhile, Labour suspended Kevin Craig as its candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich after learning he had placed a bet on losing his bid to become an MP.Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, X (formerly Twitter), external and Instagram, external.
Independent - NagbeaReform UK - Simon DandyConservative - Philip DaviesLabour - Anna DixonThe Yorkshire Party - Will GrantWorkers Party of Britain - Waqas KhanChristian Peoples Alliance - Darryl Morton-WrightLiberal Democrat - Graham ReedSocial Democratic Party - Paul ShkurkaGreen - Kevin Warnes
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Might not be illegal but is certainly very telling about how seriously he takes being an MP.
See, I don’t care about this at all. There’s no suggestion he was going to deliberately throw the election. He didn’t have any inside information. He’s allowed to place bets!
It seems to me a given that you shouldn’t be able to place bets on outcomes you can directly influence. This is not so different from e.g. a boxer betting on himself to lose.
There is no indication that any of the politicians who bet against themselves intended to throw the election. Politics is not sport.
The possibility of throwing is what makes it a bad look.
Right, but they weren’t doing that. There’s no evidence they were and no motive for them to do so. The comparison with athletes is not apt. A pro footballer who bets on himself and manipulates the outcome is still a pro-footballer afterwards. A politician who bets on themselves and deliberately loses is not a politician afterwards. It does not make sense to do it.
The motive is money, especially if you’re pretty sure you’re going to lose.
“In the 2005 election, I busted a gut to win. I expected to lose. I had a bet on myself to lose in the 2005 election, and my bet went down the pan.”
He didn’t throw the '05 election, even when he bet against himself.
so to check, you’re fine with a football player betting against themselves, so long as they then happen to win?
no motive for them to do so
I can think of 8000 motives
That’s about one tenth of the annual MP’s salary. So, he has a far greater financial motive to remain an MP than he does to lose and collect the bet.
Well except for the fact that the salary option is:
- granted gradually over a year period
- requires you to do a full-time job
If they would be able to get even a slightly worse salaried job instead of being an MP, then the financial motive is - in contrast to your claim - actually in favour of him losing
Sweet summer child…
The idea that anyone would put in all the work to get selected as a candidate, then decide it was a smart move to place a bet against themselves and throw the election to make a quick buck is ridiculous. There’s no way you could make enough money from the bet to make it worthwhile.
There’s actually a term for it
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dummy_candidate
Or this - see the UK section
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_candidate
“All the work to be a candidate”…
It requires huge amounts of work to be a candidate. I know people who’ve run for parliament. One of them had previously run as a total no-hoper on multiple occasions, in order to prove he knew how to campaign well enough to get selected for a seat where he had a chance. He was so burned out by the selection process that having won the selection, he actually turned down the nomination, then quit politics altogether. The idea that he’d have deliberatey thrown any of those elections is ridiculous.
So we’re just ignoring this part then?
In Britain, being nominated as a local election candidate simply involves signing some forms, with no deposit required. A paper candidate will often do no campaigning at all and so be able to submit a zero return of election expenses, simplifying the paperwork for the election agent. Paper candidates are commonly fielded in different locations by all the major parties in both local and national elections.
This
Also… Just give £8000 to charity ffs
Think of it as a safety net, if you lose the election you lose your job… But the winnings of that bet would then help you out.
If you win, you keep your reasonable lucrative job, no problem.
A very good illustration of why all types of insurance are just gambling.
That’s a fair point.
I think to most people if you can afford a “flutter” of eight grand you can afford not to be an MP.
If you were single and earning an MPs salary it could be a bit of a no brainer - could you get a other equally or better paying job within a few months? Considering you have been a politician for the last 5 years not an SME in whatever field?
If you had a family on that salary, unsure. If you agreed it with your other half as a planned move, maybe?
