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i christian fraser. amand this is "the context." >> these bets should have been placed and it is right that we have this internal process and those inquiries have led to the decision today to suspend these candidates. >> i remain on the ballot for the fourth of july and i hope to secure your support after years of delivery. i committed an error of judgment and i want to reiterate my apology directly to you. >> it's important that all members of the country including as it were the governing classes have to live by the same rules, proper rules. and it sounds as though some people, at least will have broken those rules. >> we seem to that you can't make it up territory. and here's the thing, there is every prospect that there is more to come, and we are just a week and a couple days away from polling day. it's astonishing. ♪

christian: an election dominated by a betting scandal. more police under investigation for placing bets on the timing of the election. conservatives have withdrawn support from two candidates under investigation. and now, gleyber are forced to act, one of the candidates also implicated. we will get the latest from westminster. wikileaks founder julian assange it is about to land in the northern mariana islands where he will plead guilty to one charge under the espionage act. it is 14 years since he probably specify details of the iraq and afghan wars and we reaction from the united states. good evening. first the conservatives, now labor, both parties are involved in the betting scandal. today the tories withdrew support from two candidates, craig williams and laura saunders, who had bet on the timing of the election. both on the ballot as

conservatives but will sit as independents is selected. then tonight, labor suspending kevin cragg who apparently had bet against himself. the party returned 100,000 pounds in donations the businessman had given them. there is a since we don't yet know the full extent of the investigation. the gambling commission says five metropolitan officers are alleged to have placed bets but only one is being criminally investigated. our political editor chris mason. reporter: this is craig williams, a friend and parliamentary aide to the prime minister. he turned down my request for an interview but said this on social media i remain. >> on the ballot for the fourth of july and i hope to secure your support after years of delivery. i committed an error of judgment, not an offense, and i want to reiterate my apology directly to you.

reporter: that video followed this statement from the conservative party this morning. "as a result of ongoing internal inquiries, we can no longer support craig williams or laura saunders as part of product -- as parliamentary candidates at the forthcoming general election." and so, on the radio at lunchtime time, one key question -- >> why has this decision been taken now, not a week or more ago? >> i am as disappointed and angry as the prime minister is an various other cservative spokesmen who have commented on this. these bets should have been placed and it is right that we have this internal process. those inquiries have led to the decision today to suspend. reporter: these candidates here is where craig williams was the mp and is hoping to be reelected. >> i think craig williams has been incredibly stupid for such a small amount of money, for any amount of money, but for a few hundred pounds, i mean, he is an idiot basically. >> i just think it is all borne

out of proportion. for more terrible things are being done in the house of commons. reporter: than this and this is laura saunders, conservative candidate in bristol northwest, who is now also no longer supported byonservatives. i asked her for comment today, too, and she has not replied. >> it has taken rishi sunak the best part of two weeks to act on this. . that is just weak leadership. reporter: but hang on a minute, and labour are designing a candidate and donor. >> i am kevin cragg and is the honor and privilege of my life to be labour's parliamentary candidate here in central suffolk and north ipswich. reporter: he is also being investigated by the gambling commission. in a statement, he said, "a few

weeks ago when i thought i would never win this seat, i put back door on the tories to win here with the intent to give their winnings to local charities while i didn't place this bet with any prior knowledge of the outcome, this was a huge mistake for which i apologized unservedly. i will comply fully with the investigation." it has been quite a day. >> [shouting] reporter: amid all the political shenanigans, the metropolitan police has confirmed another five of its officers are alleged to have placed bets on the timing of the election. we learned of one last week. oh, and the emperor of japan is in london on the state visit. a yen for his thoughts on all this stuff. chris mason, bbc news. christian: yes, there is a sense of this is spreading far and wide. let's pick it up with joe pike, correspondent in westminster. start with your story,, joe about the scottish secretary. what do we know? guest: a-lister jack may not be the most famous cabinet minister, but he has been in the

cabinet a longtime secretary under rishi sunak and liz truss. in the last hour, we broke the story that he claimed he had won 2100 pounds betting on the date of the election, he told us after rishi sunak had enough the election date, but before craig williams became the first political figure at the heart of this scandal. now, he said that one of those that don't was a 25:1. a challenger or dust challenged on it this last week, he said he had been joking and pulling my leg. in a statement today he clarified, "saying this i am clear that he never placed any bets on the date of the general election during may, the period under investigation by the gambling commission. furthermore, i am not aware of families or friends placing bets."

he is in the cabinet and has said that he won money previously. he has been confirmed when asked whether he in fact placed those bets in march or april. he has not denied putting any bets at all on the date of the general election. he certainly doesn't think he has broken any rules with the gambling commission. but i suppose this is not just about the rules, but also about whether senior figures at the heart of government should be betting on these sorts of key political topics. christian: there is a sense that those who were in the no past information to colleagues and friends. our wills online team is reporting in the last hour that russell george, a member of the senate in wales, the same constituency as craig williams, a conservative ms, also placed a bet and it's also under

investigation. guest: yes, the face conservative party figure. he is the fifth won the watchdog, the gambling commission are looking into. he also released a statement saying he is cooperating with the gambling commission's investigation. but perhaps significantly, he stepped back from the shadow cabinet, the conservatives group in the senate, while the investigation is ongoing. what is fascinating about the fact that we also this evening have a labour figure in the mix. it is not just one party under pressure, but of course, labour sources would argue that keir starr acted quickly with regards to kevin cragg, within a matter of hours. they claim it took rishi sunak almost two weeks to withdraw support from craig williams, the welsh conservative candidate.

so, sadly, keir starmer cannot claim this is a scandal or program but hasn't affected his party. and for all revelations in the last couple of hours, it does seem possible that there are more names coming out in the coming days. christian: the problem, joe, now that it has spread to labour, i gives the sense of parliamentarians on the make a little bit, not to the same extent as yet, as far as you know, like the expenses scandal, and we know what damage that did to the character of westminster and the way people perceived politics. and there is perhaps one really interesting comparison there, which is that the expenses scandal was a story that blew up and covering a practice that seemed almost commonplace. that people knew about. this was the weight many --

way that mps argued, you topped up your salary. and it was only when the details were built-up that people realized this was something that was really wrong and inappropriate. some might argue that this practice on betting around politics election date may have been going on for a decade, but it is only the focus at the heart of the election, and on particular, key people which has led to perhaps politicians and their aides reassessing with her practice is evenppropriate. christian: joe pike, thank you very much indeed. we are expecting the wikileaks founder julian assange to land in the northern mariana islands, and american territory in the south pacific where he is due to appear in court to plead guilty to one chart under the espionage act. he was released from prison last night and flown private jet to saipan. the plea deal he struck with prosecutors carries a custodial sentence, but assange has

already served five years for breaching bail conditions and will be released immediately. it brings to a close a 14 year saga in which mr. assange has fought exhibition, first hiding out at the ecuadorian embassy in london, and then in a prison cell in bell marsh. his wife spoke to bbc today. >> i don't want to say too much until it has been signed off by a judge, but the important thing here is that the deal involved time served, that if he signed it, he would be able to walk free. christian: our guest is the new york times national security and legal reporter. great to have you on the program. you said it's unambiguous and led to this long-running legal saga which has jeopardized the ability of other jrnalists to report on military intelligence or diplomatic information that might be deemed secret. can you explain that? guest: this is from the

perspective of press freedoms. regardless of what you think of julian assange the person and his various actions as he evolved over the years, it was an unprecedented act for the u.s. justice department to charge him under the espionage act in 2019 for the act of gathering and publishing secret government information. that had never happened before in the united states where we have a strong first amendment constitutional protection for press freedoms. and it doesn't matter whether you count as a journalist or not, there is a debate about that surrounding mr. assange. because the law doesn't protect people who have the status of being to the constitution protects journalistic actions, the activity, regardless of who does them. so this was really crossing that looper: -- rubicon for the government to charge him and then continuing under the biden administration, sort of a

bipartisan push to establish that these actions that were never treated as a crime before the united states, can land someone in jail. so this result means on the one hand that prosecutors have successfully convicted someone undethe espionage act for the act of gathering and publishing government secrets. christian: that has a pretty a chilling effect in the united states, and because he is an australian citizen and unlikely to come to the united states or be allowed in, then presumably this will never be tested at the supreme court. guest: not only because he is australian and not likely to come here, but because typically in plea deals, and we expect the same will be here, both parties agree that the facts constitute a violation of the law that was charged and give up their right to challenge the result. we had been expecting that whenever the extradition

proceedings in your country finally ended, a thales acted in him being brought here to serve trial, he would file a momentous constitutional challenge to the first amendment of charging his actions under this law and it would go to the supreme court and it is entirely possible that the current supreme court which is very conservative here in the united states, would agree with the government, very narrow view of how this freedom should go. so while this result gives the government a scalp it never had before in this category, it is limited. there is no traditional ruling and not a definitive ruling that says the goverent is right since they got a guy to get out of jail if he said these things, to say these things. christian: that is really interesting. guest: it is ambiguous from a press freedom perspective. christian: you mentioned that there is obviously a difference in opinion as to whether he was a journalist or not.

do you think he was a tool for moscow for their covert activity during 2016 and in the run-up to the 2016 election? guest: i mean, that is a way of characterizing it. it is unarguable that he pun published democratic emails that most people agree or believed by the russian government as part of their efforts to damage hillary clinton and help donald trump in the election. he tightened those publications for maximum impact, one set on the eve of the democratic national convention, dissecting that event, and others on a rolling basis in the endgamef the election, october 2016, which clearly didn't help hillary clinton. whether he knew or was willfully blind about the origin of those emails that ended up on his server, i think has never been

definitively established -- established. certainly, the world was saying these were russian-hacked things. but if there was information that was newsworthy, he was saying i have the right to publish it. the election interference actions are not part of these charges. he was not charged over the 2016 election interference, he was charged over the 2010, 2011 publication of chelsea manning scheepers leaks of american diplomatic cables and documents from the military's wars in afghanistan. christian: an important distinction. finally, just briefly, what do you think the political fallout from this will be? was it a dangerous decision for joe biden dictates, even in his own party given what you just sent out? guest: it is certainly the case that many democrats do not like julian assange. at the time of the chelsea manning leaks, he became sort of

a hero to the antiwar left and because of his actions in 2016 helping donald trump, a lot of the left here at than him. the right, at least the national security right, traditional republicans, never liked him very much to begin with. so he is a bit of a nomad, there is a number of people who still consider him a reverent figure and you can find them on twitter , for example, but really the issues surrounding his case are much bigger than whatever one thinks of him as an individual, and the implications for investigative journalism and its future in the united states go well beyond the event very extraordinary saga that we have been living through with him for the past decade or so. christian: bear that in mind when the ruling is handed out later on wednesday in the marion islands. charlie savage, thank you for coming on the program. guest: thank you. christian: around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. ♪

christian: is a former engineer at a technology firm, fujitsu, who helped design the horizon i.t. system, said he thought the software worked well most of the time. garth jenkins was an expert witness in the persecutions the post office brought against some postmasters until it is a fast and false accounting. if you give evidence in the pivotal 2010 file and was jailed while pregnant. he is now under investigation for perjury and perverting the course of justice. reporter: the man in the middle spent his entire career at fujitsu. he made a distinguished engineer. >> may i call garth jenkins, please? reporter: he may have known more about horizon than anybody else. so did he agree with what the judge said about it when post masters eventually took it to court? >> do you expect the first

finding that legacy horizon was robust? >> i don't accept that finding. >> you don't accept the finding that horizon online was susceptible to accounting flaws? >> there were some district problems to the accounts, but they were very discreet and they were very well controlled and managed at the time. reporter: he became an expert witness for the post office, defendant horizon in more than a dozen cases. one of them was seema misra. she was sent to prison while pregnant. if you knew about a bug in the system but didn't mention it in the trial, crucial evidence that should have been disclosed. he says nobody told him about his legal duties as an expert witness. >> all i thought i had to do is answer the questions i was being asked to answer and obviously the answers had to be truthful. reporter: he apologized to

seema. not good enough, she says, after seeing him for the first time in 13 years. >> today i am here to hear from mr. jenkins why he did what he did. that is what i wanted to hear. reporter: and it is she getting those answers? >> not yet. not yet. reporter: he has three more days of questions to come. anna simpson, bbc news. christian: if the first of the tv debates in france tonight as voters prepare to go to the polls on sunday in the first round of the parliamentary elections. the french prime minister gabriel attal will score against his two main opponents at the hard right and the hard left. the new france candidate, and that stand in for leader jean-luc melenchon, the rally still has a clear lead in opinion polls ahead of sunday's vote. let's speak to the u.k.

correspondent for france24. nice to see you, benedict. gabriel attal against the equally useful jordan bardella who could ultimately replace him as a minister. it's a big night for him as well as for president macron. guest: it is a big night for france. and there will be another debate with a slightly different cast tomorrow that will also include gabriel attal and jordan bardella who is the president of the national rally. the debate started a short while ago and the gloves are off. this has been a snap election lead at a blistering pace, three weeks between when that infamous, in essence, sunday night of the european election results before the official results, and a french president who has a five year term and was two years into it, decided that

he, as is his prerogative, should clarify the situation and dissolve the parliament. hence these elections. in the last few minutes you have got unsurprisingly, mr. attal, has been attracting by della, go ead, permits us to the moon and we will believe you. and then you have jordan bardella who is saying, yes, prime minister, why don't you just give us a big lesson in economics? so it is particularly those two, but also the third, a person in there. we should explain to the viewers that these are the three groups polling the best. you have the national rally of marine le pen doing the best. if they got an absolute majority -- they want the president of the party, jordan bardella at the grand age of 28, to become the next prime minister. but he threw a spanner in the

works in a press conference that i watched on tv. the big deal there is that he said he if he doesn't get an absolute majority for that party, he will not go to the government. it doesn't look good. but there are two rounds the first, round is this sunday, the second is the sunday after. christian: are you surprised the republicans are not on the stage tonight? it is extraordinary to me as someone who reported on france 10 years ago that the republicans and the socialists are nowhere, and you have these three insurgent forces really competing with in france. guest: precisely, because what president macron did with his presidential election the first time around, he effectively said, i am not from the right or the left, i want to use solutions and bring policies that work the best. that is what you have that mix in government of different political figures. that has come acrupper when

there were parliamentary elections just after the presidential elections two years ago. what happened is mr. macron just after he was reelected for that second term, you -- inherited a parliament voted for by the french people were his party, the new renaissance, it didn't have an absolute majority, but a relative one. hence, he thought, i will trigger the snap election now because he thought it was coming down the track anyway. there were votes of confidence on his budget in the fall. but basically you have a very fractured far-left and far-right. and have president macron who will not let his prime minister to the campaigning and announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james.

cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

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