Could the handover take place the day after polling day? For two and a half months we have been saying repeatedly that Tony Blair will go on as Prime Minister for much much longer than received wisdom had it and those that followed our advice in mid-May are sitting on some promising bets. Ten days after the election we said “The markets think he’s going in 18 months – don’t believe it”. The latest speculation following the comments by his…
Is Liam Fox being lined up as the stop DD candidate? According to the Sunday Telegraph this morning the last three Tory leaders who failed to make it to Number 10 are considering giving their support to Liam Fox in what the paper says would be “a co-ordinated stop David Davis campaign”. Melissa Kite, the paper’s Deputy Political Editor, notes that William Hague “….. has expressed privately his admiration for Dr Fox but will demonstrate it publicly when the pair…
Just to say that we are sorry that the site was down for nearly 24 hours until mid-morning as a result of a major server problem. I had a posting written before the bombs on the effect of the Olympics on Tony Blair. This was completely overtaken by the events and was withdrawn. Mike Smithson
As Paris eases money goes on London and Madrid With the 115 members of the IOC due to start their election on the 2012 Olympic city just after midnight, BST, the betting price on Paris (above) has continued to ease as punters give strong support to London and Madrid. We have restricted the chart to just the one contender in order to show best the sharp price movement. The return on a winning bet on Paris has almost doubled in…
Should punters follow lucky Tony? With barely 36 hours to go before the crucial meeting of the IOC begins in Singapore the price on London has tightened while that on Paris has eased on which city should host the 2012 Olympic Games. Yesterday at this time the best betting price you could have got on London was 15/4. Now that’s 3/1. Meanwhile Paris has eased from 2/9 to 2/7 – so the French capital is still the very firm favourite…
Will Singapore see another UK-France stand-off? Expect a huge amount of betting over the next 72 hours as Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac fly to Singapore where on Wednesday the 115 members of the IOC will decide on which city will get the 2012 Olympic Games. Although strictly this is not politics the choice will have a huge political impact in the cities and countries of the five contenders – Paris, London, Madrid, New York and Moscow – and it…
Will the bill give David Davis a chance to shine against Clarke? With about 20 Labour MPs rebelling in last night’s second reading vote on the ID cards bill the betting exchange, Betfair has opened a market on whether the Government will get the legislation on the statute book during this session of Parliament. This is the first time that I can recall that gamblers have been able to have a punt on a specific piece of legislation although so…
Has the Hague experience blighted Cameron’s chances? Apart from having gone to Eton – his parent’s decision, one assumes, and not his – the other concern about David Cameron’s candiditure is his age. After the experience of William Hague, who was surely promoted too quickly, there are worries about handing the leadership to someone in their 30s. The Howard pattern – going for someone in their 60s – was going in the opposite direction and this might be another factor…