Back in November PBer Philip Thompson had a great guest slot here in which he suggested that the 200/1 then being offered by Ladbrokes was was great value bet. It came during the GE2019 campaign shortly after Rishi Sunak had been chosen by Johnson to act as the Tory rep on one of the set piece debates.

The bet in fact was better than that. Ladbrokes was offering an odds boost which made this a 250/1 shot not a 200/1 one. I got my £20 on at 250/1 and would come out with £5k if this in fact comes good.

Then Sunak was Chief Secretary to the Treasury but two and a half months later got promoted to the Chancellorship after Sajid refused to accept that Dom Cummings should choose his spads.

Since then his profile has risen and risen and he’s seen to be the one finding the money for many of those who are losing financially from the lockdown. He’s also been one of the cabinet ministers who have been taking the government’s regular briefing on the crisis.

Whether Sunak maintains his popularity after the lockdown is over and he has to bring in new taxes to fund the huge commitments that the crisis has forced on the government remains to be seen.

Ladbrokes have another Sunak bet that looks like value – 3/1 that he’ll become PM before 2050.

The cabinet minister to come out worst in the poll is Priti Patel who has struggled on from one verbal mishap to another since becoming HomeSec. Her ability to announce things wrong getting number mixed up has become another of the features of the lockdown briefings. These are yet to be as bad as her attack on “counter-terrorism” something she appeared to be confusing with “terrorism” last month.

Mike Smithson