Thursday 18 March 2010

Is Boris now the clear favourite to be next Tory leader?

The Events Dear Boy Events blog asks who the next Tory leader will be, suggesting that Willian Hague's role in the Tory cover up of Lord Ashcroft's non-dom status for a decade will end the shadow Foreign Secretary's hopes of being a future as well as former Tory leader.

All of which might be greeted with not so mixed feelings in City Hall. The closest Boris watchers, such as his ex-Telegraph boss Charles Moore, have frequently suggested he has a burning ambition to be Tory leader and Prime Minister. Spectator editor Fraser Nelson who holds Boris' old job has written that "I gather that Boris is highly unlikely to stand for a second term: he has his eyes on the No.10 prize".

Here's how Ladbrokes currently call the odds.

Whether he is giving it any thought or not, I expect the Blond may think that being officially joint favourite with George Osborne and William Hague with the bookies leaves him handily placed at this stage, and will increasingly expect his competition to emerge from elsewhere.

Next time they adjust the odds, I expect Boris will have a clear lead as favourite. Scary, but true.


Boris Johnson 5/1
William Hague 5/1
George Osborne 5/1

Michael Gove 16/1
Rory Stewart 16/1
Jeremy Hunt 20/1
Liam Fox 20/1
Nick Herbert 20/1

Ed Vaizey 33/1
David Davis 33/1
Daniel Hannan 33/1
Chris Grayling 40/1

50/1 bar


Looking at that field, it really isn't very hard to see why the Conservative campaign is so heavily a one-man Cameron show.

2 comments:

richard.blogger said...

More scary is that George Osborne has the same odds as Boris. At least Boris has some public support (if only as a likeable buffoon) and the experience (regardless of his track record) of running a large organisation. Heck, Boris did run a magazine successfully, but what has Osborne ever done? What has Osborne ever achieved? Is there anything likeable about Osborne? So why are people actually putting money on him?

dotcommentator said...

'The blond' - very quaint. Like 'The Black' or 'The Woman'.