PaddyPower Do the terms of the market make it a good bet? Thanks to StJohn on the previous thread for spotting this new market fromPaddyPower on who, of a named list, will be the first to call on Gordon Brown to step down. The chances are, as far as I can see, that none of them would go public and the likelihood is that Brown will leave of his own accord – probably after a general election defeat. But under…
How’ll the “Man in the White Suit” affect the race? As predicted here a month ago the “Man in the White Suit”, ex BBC-reporter and victor as an independent at Tatton in 1997, Martin Bell has got involved with the next big political betting event in the UK – the mayoral by-election in Bedford on October 15 with an electorate of 100,000. We’ve reported already on the visit of David Cameron and the Tory open primary to select their candidate…
But isn’t 4/5 looking like good value for money? According to Ladbrokes this afternoon there’s been a fair bit of activity on their Bedford mayoral by election market but they have not laid a single bet on the Tories. As a result the Lib Dems have moved in from 2/1 to 5/4 while the Tories have eased from 1/2 to 4/5. Labour is still at 10/1. Clearly the manner of Parvez Akhtar’s selection on Monday has not been welcomed in…
Could October 2nd produce another shock? At the end of last week the Dublin bookmaker, Paddy Power was reported as saying that sentiment on the betting markets over the Irish Lisbon Treaty referendum had moved more towards the “No” camp. Yes is still the firm favourite but there has not been a poll since June and that suggested that more than 54% would vote that way. But it’s being recalled that “Yes” was leading ahead of the last Lisbon referendum…
Times Online But isn’t the most pressure going to be on Brown’s government? With the storm over the release of the Lockerbie bomber continuing unabated on both sides of the Atlantic William Hill has opened a market that “Alex Salmond will cease to be SNP Leader on or before December 31, 2009”. Today the Holyrood parliament is being recalled so justice minister Kenny MacAskill can make a statement. With talk of a boycott of Scottish goods in the US there’s…
The money piles on the Lib Dem after he declares his candidature? The big mover on the Next Speaker Betting markets has been the veteran Lib Dem MP Alan Beith who first entered the commons 36 years ago at the Berwick upon Tweed by election. What marks Beith out is that he’s declared that he’s a runner and that, surely, must now rule out fellow Lib Dem, Ming Campbell who was scarred by one of the Daily Telegraph exposes. I’ve…
The People Will Ed swap jobs with Jacqui in June? I’ve just caught up with the above is story from The People which on reading sounds highly plausible. Ed Balls is hugely ambitious and as, so it is said, Brown’s choice as successor we should expect Number 10 to do everything to help. And what could help Balls most in his positioning for the leadership than to be holding or have held one of the three main offices of state?…
General Election constituency betting Could the Morley seat be the “Portillo moment – 2010 version”? We can all, I’m sure, remember it well. In the days immediately after Tony Blair’s stunning landslide in May 1997 the moment everybody seemed to be talking about was the result from Enfield and Southgate where Michael Portillo’s shattering and unexpected defeat seemed to epitomise the whole election and the total collapse of the Tories. For Labour’s performance there was absolutely staggering and went way…