Is Alan Johnson worth a 33-1 punt?
What do we think of the Mail on Sunday story?
I’ve just placed a bet with Ladbrokes against Alan Johnson as next Labour leader at the very attractive price of 33/1.
What’s prompted it is the above report from the Mail on Sunday that Johnson is being urged to ‘ready himself’ to replace Ed Miliband who has only been in the job since September 25th.
This seems to be be just about plausible given Alan Johnson’s very public disagreement with his leader over a graduate tax. The shadow chancellor also advanced his case on Monday with an assured response to George Osborne’s autumn statement.
Until now the thinking has been that if EdM was to go before the election then either his brother, David, or Yvette Cooper would take over. But the Alan Johnson option has the benefit of not being a long term one. He’s 60 and you could see him sticking in the role for a couple of years. The battle between the “Blairites” and the “Brownites” would just be postponed.
As regulars will know I love long-shot bets like this and have seen wagers at 50/1 and 33/1 come good in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The latter was on EdM – a bet placed two years earlier.
William Hill have Ed Miliband at 2/1 as the first of the main party leaders to step down. Clegg is at evens with Cameron at 5/2.