How many more nails can be hammered into the Conservatives’ electoral coffin? There’s not much room left on the lid, but this latest one has made the loudest noise: the prime minster’s closest parliamentary aide, Craig Williams, is being investigated by the Gambling Commission for making a £100 bet on the date of the election just before Rishi Sunak stunned his own cabinet by announcing it.

It took the PM almost two weeks to withdraw the party’s support from Williams, who is on the ballot as the Conservative candidate for Montgomeryshire & Glyndwr — and from Laura Saunders, wife of the party’s campaign director, who had made a similar bet and is standing in Bristol North West.

So when it emerged that the Labour candidate