What is really incredible about the Richi Sunak is that barely anybody had heard of him just 6 months ago. Now he is barely off the front pages, one of the key faces of the Johnson government and miles ahead of anybody else in the betting for Johnson’s successor as Conservative leader.

Increasingly he is looking like the PM in waiting should something happen to Johnson in the short or long-term.

It was in November less than 6 months ago that I first became aware of him when Philip Thompson submitted a guest post suggesting that at 200/1 Sunak was a good bet to become next prime minister. Then he was a minster but not even in the cabinet.

I love super longshot bets and got £20 on Sunak at Ladbrokes at 250/1 including their odds boost. I know several other PBers also got the long price.

Sunak had a stroke of luck when Johnson was forming his new post-GE2019 cabinet. A vacancy occurred for the Chancellor’s job after Javid would not agree to the terms he was required to accept about SPADs.

What is clear, and we saw it yesterday, is that Sunak is becoming increasingly confident and is getting better in TV interviews.

The current next prime minister betting is an odd market because if it is to be the favourite, Starmer, LAB has to win a general election or least become the lead party in anti conservative Coalition. We haven’t really look at this yet because the next general elections could be nearly 5 years away and the challenge facing Starmer assuming he gets the leadership is colossal. Corbyn’s devastating defeat in December saw the party drop to just 202 MPs the lowest since 1935. To get within shouting distance at a general election is a tall order particularly as Labour’s position in Scotland looks so bad.

That 250/1 Sunak bet is looking better by the day

Mike Smithson