UK PM withdraws party support from 2 candidates

London: Adding to the turmoil for an embattled Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister on Tuesday decided to withdraw his party’s backing from two of his Conservative colleagues embroiled in a betting scandal over the date of the general election.

The move comes just over a week before the July 4 polls after days of the row dominating the campaign headlines, with the Opposition demanding the suspension of those accused.

A Conservative Party spokesperson confirmed that Tory candidates Craig Williams and Laura Saunders will no longer have the party’s backing to contest as MPs from Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr in Wales and Bristol North West in England respectively.

“As a result of ongoing internal enquiries, we have concluded that we can no longer support Craig Williams or Laura Saunders as parliamentary candidates at the forthcoming general election,” a Conservative Party spokesperson said.