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Category: Labour

If it’s not Gordon Brown – then who is in contention?

If it’s not Gordon Brown – then who is in contention?

RED Alan Johnson: GREEN David Miliband: BLUE David Blunkett: BLACK Alan Milburn What if “events” blew the Chancellor’s career plan off course? While all the focus has been on the Tory leadership race it’s easy to forget that there’s almost certainly going to be a Labour leadership contest before the General Election. Gordon Brown, of course, is the red hot odds-on favourite but at 0.29/1 you would probably be better off leaving your stake in the building society than locking…

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Blair fourth term market goes online

Blair fourth term market goes online

It’s 16/1 against him winning a fourth term and staying as PM If you do not mind locking your money up for several years Ladbrokes have now begun taking online bets on whether Tony Blair will fight and win the next General Election and stay at Number 10. The price is an attractive 16/1 which we think is a fair reflection of the risk and the cost of the bookmaker and not you holding onto your stake until possibly May…

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Is this the face of a man who is on his way out?

Is this the face of a man who is on his way out?

Could Blair stay to fight another election? As the polls were closing at the Hartlepool by-election on September 30th 2004 Tony Blair issued a statement that he was about to go into hospital for a small procedure and that he would stand down as Labour leader and Prime Minister before the then next General Election but one – which is probably scheduled for 2009. The move seemed designed to deal with ongoing unpopularity following the Iraq war and to end…

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Where does last week leave Gordon Brown’s ambitions?

Where does last week leave Gordon Brown’s ambitions?

When will Blair go? On the morning of May 6th the future for Gordon Brown looked relatively straightforward. He had been loyal to Tony Blair during the election campaign and within a relatively short time, a year to eighteen months, he would get his reward. The deal in the Granita restaurant all those years ago would soon be reality. This was certainly how the betting markets viewed it. In that first post General Election week you could have got just…

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Ed Balls now favourite to be next Chancellor

Ed Balls now favourite to be next Chancellor

Would PM Brown put two fingers up to precedent? In the days after the General Election we said that putting money on Ed Balls at 4.6/1 to be the next Chancellor was a cost effective way of bettting on Gordon Brown to be the next Labour leader. Our reasoning was that that only Balls, Brown’s long-serving advisor at the Treasury, could conceivably be Brown’s Chancellor. Only he would have the confidence of his boss and the odds on him becoming…

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Is now the time to bet against Brown?

Is now the time to bet against Brown?

Is his “automatic succession” still a near certainty? Yesterday’s little Commons concession over the operation of Gordon Brown’s tax credit system is a timely reminder of what a dangerous a position the Chancellor of the Exchequer holds. For although he has had a fairly charmed life until now you cannot assume that things will continue to go well for the politician who gave up his chances of becoming Labour leader at that famous dinner at the Granita restaurant all those…

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Will Blair outlast Chirac?

Will Blair outlast Chirac?

What does the Euro-spat do for the Brown succession? With the leaders of the EU nations returning to their home countries after the deadlock in Brussels there’s speculation this morning that the latest Euro-mess could mean that Tony Blair will have to stay in office longer. According to Andrew Grice in the Independent today ….some Blairites are talking about their man outlasting M. Chirac, who faces re-election in 2007, as well as Mr Schröder, who seems destined for electoral defeat…

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Introducing the man who is 9/1 to be the next Prime Minister

Introducing the man who is 9/1 to be the next Prime Minister

Could the former postman and union boss make it if Brown falters? While all the focus has been on the Tory leadership race there’s been a quiet revolution taking place in the “who’ll replace Blair” betting. Because Gordon Brown is seen as such a certainty there’s been no serious examination about what would happen if, for whatever reason, the Chancellor is unable to make it to the top job. Who is next in line? Although there’s been very little betting…

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