Should punters follow lucky Tony?

With barely 36 hours to go before the crucial meeting of the IOC begins in Singapore the price on London has tightened while that on Paris has eased on which city should host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Yesterday at this time the best betting price you could have got on London was 15/4. Now that’s 3/1. Meanwhile Paris has eased from 2/9 to 2/7 – so the French capital is still the very firm favourite but there is a slight loss of confidence.

There’s little doubt that a decision for London would be a big personal boost for Tony Blair who flew in 24 hours ahead of Jacques Chirac for the last minute lobbying of the 115 IOC members who will make the final decision. The success of the weekend’s Live8 concerts will not have harmed London’s case.

I’ve put some money on London because Tony Blair seems to have the angels with him whenever he goes into situations like this. With one thing after another always seeming to go his way he must be one of the luckiest politicians of all time.

Unless you are part of that close cirle now gathered in Singapore it is hard to call this election. But following lucky Tony at 3/1 seems a good bet.

Mike Smithson