Bookmakers Paddy Power sent a fleet of vans to the Houses of Parliament after the news that Liz Truss had quit and Boris Johnson could be making a comeback. The vehicles poked fun at the chaos in UK politics as the bookies revealed their odds on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson to return have been slashed following Liz Truss’ resignation.
Within hours of the announcement, the bookmaker sent a convoy of three vehicles emblazoned with tongue-in-cheek messages that make light of the calamity as it unfolded at Number 10. Paddy Power revealed that ex-PM Boris Johnson had been heavily backed all evening, with odds contracting from 14/1 at lunchtime into 9/2 – a swing that according to the odds, reflects a tripling of his chances of making a shock return to the role.
With the government finding itself once again in a state of flux just 44 days after Boris was replaced, Paddy Power’s first van carried the message: “GOODBYE BORIS”. This was followed in hot pursuit by another that read: “IT’S HARD TO KEEP UP”. Bringing up the rear was a third van, with a display that read: “HELLO…BORIS?”
Former Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is the odds-on favourite with Paddy Power to be the next resident of Number 10, priced at 8/11 to be the UK’s third Prime Minister of the year. Penny Mordaunt (11/4) and Ben Wallace at (16/1) are also in the running to replace Truss.
And punters can even get odds of 500/1 for the newly-famous wet lettuce to be the next leader of the Conservatives.
Spokesman Paddy Power said: “With the number of government U-turns and personnel changes, we’re honestly a bit lost at the moment. So, by sending three vans with different messages to the Houses of Parliament, at least one of them should be right.
“But, given the frequent changes of resident, perhaps we should have used the vans to deliver a revolving door to Number 10 instead. It’s not the end of the world though, we’ll probably get another go at waving off the new PM in about a month’s time.”
