Rishi Sunak is reported to Parliament’s sleaze watchdog over £1,000 Rwanda bet
Rishi Sunak may have to answer to the independent adviser on ministers’ interests and the Cabinet Secretary after other MPs claimed a bet he made over his government’s Rwanda deportation policy broke the Ministerial Code.
Here’s what he did – and whether it was a breach of the Code or not, This Writer feels sure we can all agree with Sangita Myska’s comment on it:
The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has taken a £1000 bet from Piers Morgan that asylum seekers – including women & children – will be deported to Rwanda, a country deemed unsafe by the Supreme Court .
New. Low. Sunk. https://t.co/lVA0rQYdoM
— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) February 5, 2024
The Scottish National Party reported Sunak for the Code breach:
NEW@theSNP has reported Rishi Sunak over a potential breach of the ministerial code by accepting a £1,000 bet that the first plane to #Rwanda will leave before the next election. pic.twitter.com/Lhrv1bOy7R
— Paul McNamara (@PGMcNamara) February 5, 2024
The comment from Kirsty Blackman states: “Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel – and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland.
“It’s particularly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of the richest men in the UK, thinks it’s appropriate to accept a £1,000 wager – and will remind ordinary working families that near billionaire Sunak doesn’t have a clue what life is like for the rest of us in a cost of living crisis.
“It also appears to be a clear breach of the Ministerial Code and the high standards that people should expect of those in public life – not least the most powerful person in Westminster.
“For Scotland, it shows Westminster has sunk to a new low and we would be better off escaping broken Brexit Britain and determining our own asylum policy with independence.”
Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael raised a point of order in the House of Commons, but failed to note that the bet was for the money to go to a refugee charity of Sunak’s choice:
Raising a point of order in Parliament to ask whether Rishi Sunak's £1000 bet over Rwanda will be published in his register of interests. If the Prime Minister has a financial interest in pushing the Rwanda scheme then surely he ought to mention it when he speaks in Parliament. pic.twitter.com/OalrpSNedT
— Alistair Carmichael MP (@amcarmichaelMP) February 5, 2024
The Deputy Speaker, Roger Gale, responded: “I am not a betting man myself, but I suspect that if every Member of Parliament who placed a bet on anything was required to enter it in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, the book might be rather full. The right hon. Gentleman will understand that that was a nice try, but not a matter for the Chair.”
Others have passed their own comments, including MPs like Zarah Sultana…
I'm struggling to think of a more grotesque spectacle than our super-rich Prime Minister – whose fortune is estimated to be £529,000,000 – making a £1,000 bet that he will deport people seeking asylum before the next election.
He's gambling over people's lives. It's sickening.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 5, 2024
Journalists…
"A tenner says you can't get an Afghan boy beaten to death in a market town."
"You're on mate!"
"A score for every black girl in Croydon that goes hungry this Christmas."
"Piece. Of. Piss."Thanks to these two for exposing the banter bullying that drives govt, and has for years https://t.co/78m6qelgcL
— Aditya Chakrabortty (@chakrabortty) February 5, 2024
Celebrities…
Rishi Sunak this morning re Piers Morgan bet on Rwanda:
"I'm not a betting man"
Rishi Sunak on Test Match Special:⏬
"Spread betting. I used to have it on one screen at work. It was great….."#RishiSunakOut
Brexit backers gambled & made billions by stealing your kid's future https://t.co/M8BtOZHswj— Carol Vorderman (@carolvorders) February 6, 2024
And others:
“Bet you a thousand quid that you have to wait more than 2 years for your hip replacement” pic.twitter.com/GlLs10mQmE
— Rob B (@RobBfromDerby) February 5, 2024
I don’t suppose you have a copy of ‘Betting on misery’ by Rishi Sunak? pic.twitter.com/WgBSWeYVGI
— Mark Cockerton Don’t Visit Rwanda (@CockertonMark) February 6, 2024
This Writer simply wonders whether the complaint will be taken seriously.
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Carpet salesman Sunak should have placed a bet on whether or not he will be elected as an MP at the next General Election!! And he can have another bet on whether or not he will remain as a fake and pathetic prime minister!