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The Conservative head of campaigning has stepped back from his role after his wife was embroiled in a widening election-betting scandal.

Tony Lee “took a leave of absence” on Wednesday, the party said. His wife, Laura Saunders, is under investigation by the Gambling Commission for allegedly betting on the timing of the UK general election.

Saunders is a Conservative staffer standing for election in Bristol North West. The gambling regulator also launched a probe into Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide last week and a police officer from the premier’s protection detail was arrested this week.

“The director of campaigning took a leave of absence from CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters] yesterday,” the Conservative party said on Thursday.

The scandal threatens to further damage the Tory party’s already struggling re-election effort. Several polls have predicted a catastrophic defeat for Sunak and his party at the July 4 poll.

The Tory campaign has already been damaged by blunders by Sunak, including returning early from D-Day commemorations.

Saunders and Lee did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

“If people have used inside information to place bets, that is deeply wrong,” Michael Gove, housing secretary, told the BBC. He added that he could not “get too much into the detail while an investigation is going on” but said that in principle such activity was “reprehensible”.

Saunders has worked for the party since 2015, most recently helping to liaise with centre-right parties in other countries.

Lee previously described himself online as a political campaigner “with over 20 years experience in running elections” and said he had led the successful campaign to re-elect former West Midlands mayor Andy Street in 2021. Lee’s LinkedIn page was not active on Thursday.

He was appointed director of campaigning by deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who highlighted Lee’s work as the “mastermind” behind Street’s campaign at the party’s Spring Forum in March 2022.

The Gambling Commission said it was “investigating the possibility of offences concerning the date of the election”. It added: “This is an ongoing investigation, and the Commission cannot provide any further details at this time.”

The Conservative party said: “We have been contacted by the Gambling Commission about a small number of individuals. As the Gambling Commission is an independent body, it wouldn’t be proper to comment further, until any process is concluded.”

Craig Williams, who as parliamentary private secretary to Sunak was one of his most trusted aides, is also under investigation after he placed a £100 bet on a July election just days before his boss announced the date of the vote.

Sunak said he was “very disappointed” in Williams, who has admitted a “huge error of judgment” after he “placed a flutter” on the election date.

Williams has declined to say whether he placed the bet on the basis of any inside information and Sunak refused to confirm if Williams had known about the date of the poll, insisting it was not appropriate to comment while an independent investigation was under way.

Responding to the growing scandal, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was “telling” that Sunak had not suspended those allegedly involved from running as Conservative candidates in the election.

“If it was one of my candidates they would be gone and their feet would not have touched the floor,” he said on a visit to York. “Politics needs to be about service, about public service.”

On Monday, London’s Metropolitan Police also arrested an officer in Sunak’s personal security detail over “alleged bets” placed on the timing of the election.

The Met confirmed that a member of its Royalty and Specialist Protection command had been held over “alleged bets”, without identifying whom he guarded. A person familiar with the situation confirmed he had been part of Sunak’s protection detail.

Additional reporting by Anna Gross

CNN
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After 12 weeks stuck aboard a cargo ship that lost power and crushed a famed Baltimore bridge, some of the vessel’s 21 crew members could soon return to their families halfway around the world.

Attorneys for the City of Baltimore and the owner and manager of the Dali cargo ship reached a deal late Wednesday that could allow eight of the crew members to fly home as early as Thursday, according to documents filed this week in Maryland’s US District Court.

The 20 Indians and one Sri Lankan on board have been stuck on the ship since March 26, when the mammoth vessel lost propulsion, veered off course and destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, killing six construction workers.

Crew members haven’t been able to get off the ship for a variety of reasons. While none of the crew have been charged in connection with the disaster, investigations are underway to determine who might be responsible for the catastrophe. And Baltimore’s mayor has announced legal action, vowing to “hold the wrongdoers responsible.”

On Tuesday, attorneys representing the city and a bridge inspector who was nearly killed in the crash filed motions asking the court to intervene after they learned some crew members might fly home this week – before the attorneys had a chance to depose them.

“The crew consists entirely of foreign nationals who, of course, have critical knowledge and information about the events giving rise to this litigation,” Adam Levitt, an attorney representing the city, wrote in Tuesday’s emergency hearing request. “If they are permitted to leave the United States, Claimants may never have the opportunity to question or depose them.”

As of Wednesday evening, a hearing on the matter still was scheduled for Thursday.

The request came after Levitt and other counsel received an email from William Bennett, an attorney representing ship owner Grace Ocean and ship manager Synergy Marine.

The email, which was attached as an exhibit in Tuesday’s emergency court filings, said eight crew members were expected to fly home as early as this week.

“Our clients are in the process of arranging for replacement crew for the DALI,” Bennett wrote. “We have been advised that the U.S. Coast Guard will permit certain crew members to return to their home countries but has requested that other crew members remain in the United States.”

Those seafarers “will be transported directly from the Vessel to the airport prior to its departure from Baltimore (likely on or about June 20th),” Bennett wrote Tuesday morning.

Bennett’s email identifies the eight eligible crew members, which include a cook, a fitter and an oiler. “All of these crew members have been interviewed by DOJ and DOJ does not object to their departure from the United States,” Bennett wrote.

CNN has reached out to the Coast Guard and the Department of Justice for comment.

In response to Tuesday’s motions, US District Court Judge James Bredar ordered an emergency hearing for Thursday morning to hear from attorneys for each side of the issue.

But late Wednesday, attorneys for the ship’s owner and manager as well as the city of Baltimore reached a deal on terms for the eight crew members’ depositions, according to a new court filing.

As part of the deal, those crew members will not need to stay in Baltimore. Their depositions “will be taken in London or elsewhere by written agreement of all parties to the Litigation,” according to an exhibit attached to Wednesday’s court filing.

Those depositions will take place “no sooner than November 2024,” the document states.

In addition to making those seafarers available for depositions, Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine must provide documents including personnel files, employment contracts and training files, according Wednesday’s court filing.

“We agree to (the) conditions mentioned,” Bennett wrote in an email attached in the court filing.

With the agreement in place, “the City of Baltimore is satisfied that the Parties no longer require the Court’s intervention to resolve the dispute,” Levitt wrote in Wednesday’s court filing. As a result, he said, the city asked to withdraw its request for an emergency status hearing.

The judge responded in an order Wednesday evening, saying the hearing would proceed “because the agreement has not yet been explicitly endorsed by all parties,” though he noted the deal “strikes the Court as a sensible resolution to this issue.”

No civil lawsuits can get underway because of a pending request by the ship’s owner and manager to limit their financial liability, said Jason Foster, an attorney representing the bridge inspector whom he said narrowly escaped and lost six friends in the tragedy.

Six days after the catastrophe, Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine filed a petition in federal court asking for a $43.6 million cap on potential liability payouts.

But a decision on that request probably won’t happen anytime soon, since potential claimants have until September 24 to come forward, Foster told CNN Wednesday afternoon.

And due to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Foster and other attorneys weren’t able depose the crew members until all of the potential claimants have come forward – in other words, possibly September or later.

But with the new agreement Wednesday night, the eight crew members would be able to leave the country before they’re deposed.

Despite months-long separation from their families and uncertainty about their fate, the seafarers are in good spirits, said Darrell Wilson, a spokesperson for the crew’s employer, Synergy Marine.

He said the company “looks after them on a daily basis,” helping make sure they have supplies they need. And local seafarers’ organizations have “been tremendous in helping to look after the crew,” Wilson told CNN on Wednesday.

The seamen have had pizza and catered foods delivered as well as access to cricket matches broadcast from their home countries – “you know, small touches that mean a lot to the crew,” Wilson said.

But it’s still unclear exactly when the eight crew members – and the rest of their colleagues – will be able to leave. CNN has reached out the Singapore-based unions representing the seafarers for comment.

CNN’s Mary Kay Mallonee and Jeff Winter contributed to this report.

Over the past nine months, Vietnam has hosted Joe Biden, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, balancing geopolitical rivalries with an élan that has eluded other countries.

The string of visits shows how a country adept at attracting manufacturing investment from companies eager to diversify their supply chains is adroitly managing its foreign policy.

By hosting Putin this week for his first visit since 2017, Vietnam, which has a long-standing independent and diversified foreign policy, joins the ranks of North Korea, Iran and China in opening its doors to a leader shunned globally after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Putin’s visit, which follows his trip to North Korea and comes less than a year after Washington and Hanoi upgraded their ties, has irked the US but is unlikely to disrupt relations. “Vietnam has played this game quite well,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Vietnam has been “actively neutral” unlike other countries that have been more passive, he said. “Hanoi knows it must actively balance different powers . . . because that’s the way for Vietnam to gain benefits from all three powers. Otherwise it would be drawn into political games without any ability to change the direction of the game.”

Communist party-ruled Vietnam’s independent foreign policy dates back to the end of the cold war, when Hanoi decided to be a friend to all countries. Long-standing party chief Nguyen Phu Truong, the most senior political figure in Vietnam, calls this “bamboo diplomacy”, citing the plant’s “strong roots, stout trunk and flexible branches”.

Under his leadership, Vietnam has upgraded relations with the US and allies such as Australia, Japan and South Korea to “comprehensive strategic partnerships”, the highest level of diplomatic ties afforded by Hanoi.

When Biden visited Hanoi last September, the US president hailed the move to upgrade the partnership as part of the 50-year “arc of progress” between the two former foes.

In recent years Vietnam has become a favoured destination for companies such as Apple as they look to diversify their supply chains away from China. Foreign direct investment in Vietnam hit $36.6bn last year.

Yet Vietnam has managed to achieve this without disrupting its ties with China, its largest trading partner, and Russia, its biggest arms supplier. The two have been strategic partners with Vietnam since 2008 and 2012, respectively.

Three months after the Biden visit, Xi followed in his footsteps and the two communist neighbours agreed to build a “shared future” to strengthen their ties — despite disagreements and regular stand-offs between their ships in the South China Sea, where Vietnam and Beijing have overlapping claims.

Vietnam has been astute in navigating the relationship with China by striking the right balance “between defiance and deference”, said Susannah Patton, the Lowy Institute’s director of south-east Asia programme.

Vietnam has used its relationships with the US and Russia as a balance against China, she said. “Vietnam has benefited from its omnidirectional foreign policy stance and has made itself relevant to many partners.”

Vietnam’s foreign policy direction has withstood recent domestic political upheaval — a result of a long-running corruption crackdown — and is unlikely to change even as geopolitical tensions rise.

Analysts said the Communist party was pragmatic about its foreign policy and understood the importance of having western allies, especially as it looked to cement its place as a crucial manufacturing hub.

At the same time, hosting Putin is a “matter of principle” for Vietnam to show the balance and diversity in its foreign policy, said Le Hong Hiep, senior fellow and co-ordinator of the Vietnam studies programme at Iseas.

The US has expressed disappointment at the visit but said its relationship with Vietnam would continue to strengthen.

“We reiterate that no country should give Putin a platform to promote his war of aggression and otherwise allow him to normalise his atrocities. We cannot return to business as usual or turn a blind eye to the clear violations of international law Russia has committed in Ukraine,” a US state department spokesperson told the Financial Times.

Russia, the biggest supplier of military equipment including submarines to Hanoi, has been a close partner of Vietnam since the cold war. The two countries have run joint exploration projects for oil and gas in the South China Sea.

Vietnamese media has reported that Hanoi is seeking closer co-operation with Russia in natural resources, artificial intelligence, life sciences and energy. Putin is expected to meet Nguyen and other senior officials, with talks focusing on trade, economic and technological prospects, along with international and regional issues. It is unclear if any deals will be announced.

This week’s visit may ultimately prove more beneficial for Putin than for Vietnam, said Iseas’ Le, as it shows that doors still open for him. Vietnam might be cautious in announcing any major deals with Russia as it seeks to remain on good terms with the US and its allies.

“Vietnam will be wise enough to make sure that the visit will not harm its relation with US and western partners,” said Le. “It has been able to maintain good ties with all the major powers, and that plays an important role in helping Vietnam attract investment from different partners.”