Those PBers who took the Barnet tips are in the money this morning
Have we seen the high water of Corbynism?
Over the past few weeks there have been several posts here suggesting that the best bet of the local elections was on the key LAB target in London – Barnet. TSE started it all on March 25th when the Tories were 5/1 with Ladbrokes and he suggested that that we should bet that LAB wouldn’t do it.
Then we heard from Sean Fear and myself who argued that this borough, where a number of key wards have very large Jewish communities, was not going to be as easy for LAB as appeared.
We then focused on the Childs Hill ward which we suggested was going to be decisive and could tip if there was a high turnout of Jewish voters. And it was the result from Childs Hill at just after 6am that finally turned the Borough back to the Tories.
When the betting opened Ladbrokes had LAB as 1/8 favourites to take the council and they’ve been odds-on throughout.
Overall it has been a miserable night for LAB in London as one target after another seemed to slip through their hands. Outside the capital they did turn Trafford from CON to NOC and had a good victory in Plymouth.
So far the main winners have been the LDs who so far have made most seat gains of any party and have re-taken Richmond in SW London and beaten back a strong challenge from the Tories in Sutton which stayed in yellow hands.
This bodes well for the LDs in Kingston and Watford where they are defending the elected mayoralty.