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Month: July 2005

Where does last week leave Gordon Brown’s ambitions?

Where does last week leave Gordon Brown’s ambitions?

When will Blair go? On the morning of May 6th the future for Gordon Brown looked relatively straightforward. He had been loyal to Tony Blair during the election campaign and within a relatively short time, a year to eighteen months, he would get his reward. The deal in the Granita restaurant all those years ago would soon be reality. This was certainly how the betting markets viewed it. In that first post General Election week you could have got just…

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How PB.C caused a top columnist to switch to Cameron

How PB.C caused a top columnist to switch to Cameron

Is the site influencing the events it covers? The cover story of this week’s Spectator is unashamedly based on the story and discussion here on June 9th when we looked at the impact of David Cameron’s Etonian background on the Tory leadership race. Good on the magazine for giving Politicalbetting full credit unlike many other parts of the media who pick up our stories. In the article Vicki Woods describes how she has moved from her original pro-Davis position and…

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How dangerous is Cheadle for Charlie?

How dangerous is Cheadle for Charlie?

Could the by-election determine his future? With the build-up to the Olympic decision and the London bombs we’ve not really looked at the position of Charles Kennedy who only last week had to warn his fellow MPs about the whispering campaign against him. This was followed by last weekend’s Mail on Sunday investigation about the alleged “upgrades” he got on his honeymoon – though the very idea behind the story that somebody should think that the leader of the Liberal…

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How one punter reacted to the bombings

How one punter reacted to the bombings

Cheadle by-election price – Lib Dem RED: Tory BLUE Is the outrage going to help the Tories? The above chart shows the dramatic movement in the odds on the Cheadle by-election yesterday before and after the bombing in London. This is on the Betfair betting exchange where individual punters back and lay without a bookmaker to set the prices. So far the Cheadle market has attracted very little intetest and even though there is less than a week to go…

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Site disruptions & the London bombings

Site disruptions & the London bombings

Just to say that we are sorry that the site was down for nearly 24 hours until mid-morning as a result of a major server problem. I had a posting written before the bombs on the effect of the Olympics on Tony Blair. This was completely overtaken by the events and was withdrawn. Mike Smithson

Is Davis’s privilege rhetoric taking him onto dangerous ground?

Is Davis’s privilege rhetoric taking him onto dangerous ground?

Cameron’s price tightens as the Davis price eases Just as contenders for the 2012 Olympic city should avoid references to the gastronomy of the other cities then it might be wise for Tory leadership hopefuls to keep off the subject of the background of their opponents? Is it sensible for the runaway favourite, David David, to make references in a manner that can be seen as an attack on the old-Etonian, David Cameron, as he continues to position himself as…

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Olympic market jitters as the hours tick away

Olympic market jitters as the hours tick away

As Paris eases money goes on London and Madrid With the 115 members of the IOC due to start their election on the 2012 Olympic city just after midnight, BST, the betting price on Paris (above) has continued to ease as punters give strong support to London and Madrid. We have restricted the chart to just the one contender in order to show best the sharp price movement. The return on a winning bet on Paris has almost doubled in…

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Can Paris be stopped?

Can Paris be stopped?

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…

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