Rishi Sunak has enjoyed a sudden surge of support overnight among gamblers and is now the favourite with bookmakers to be the next Prime Minister.

The former Chancellor was third or fourth favourite with the bookies at 10-1 to replace Boris Johnson until his abrupt resignation yesterday evening.

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His odds have now tumbled so that he is the 3-1 or 4-1 favourite to be the next Prime Minister.

There has been so much support for him that Oddschecker, which looks at the odds offered by all the major bookies, refers to him as “a huge market mover”.

The second favourite is Penny Mordaunt, the MP for Portsmouth who in 2019 became the first female Defence Secretary, a post she held for 85 days.

But as this morning has worn on, movement in Ms Mordaunt’s odds seem to suggest that she is gaining ground on Mr Sunak.

Ben Wallace, the current Defence Secretary, is third favourite at about 8-1, a price he shares with Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary. Nadhim Zahawi, the new Chancellor, is at a similar price, as are Sajid Javid, who resigned as Health Secretary yesterday, and Jeremy Hunt.

All bookmakers believe that Mr Johnson will go as Prime Minister some time this year.

 

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