Labour leadership race: Liz Kendall now least likely to become next Labour leader
As the Labour leadership race hots up, Liz Kendall has become the least likely to win and lead her party, as Jeremy Corbyn overtakes her.
The most pro-business of the four contenders left, Kendall has tried to separate herself from the rest of the pack by presenting herself as a breath of fresh air.
Unfortunately for her, that air doesn’t smell so good, with Ladbrokes odds now showing:
- Andy Burnham 8/11
- Yvette Cooper 11/4
- Jeremy Corbyn 5/1
- Liz Kendall 8/1
This may seem surprising given Corbyn could not even rally enough votes from MPs to stand in the contest, instead relying on the kindness of his comrade Burnham to ‘shift’ some of his voters over, in order to widen debate.
That explains why when he entered the race, his odds were 100/1:
Corbyn now just 5/1 to win Labour leadership. He was 100/1 when he entered the race. pic.twitter.com/0EqtNsguNj
— Ladbrokes Politics (@LadPolitics) July 15, 2015
Head of politics at Ladbrokes, Matthew Shaddick, said:
It’s mostly just to do with where the money is going and clients are placing bets. No one in past month wants to back Kendall. At one stage she was very short at 6/4, suggesting she was close to becoming favourite. But support has fallen back.
The latest push is coming from the announcement of an internal Labour poll putting Corbyn ahead in first preference votes. Of course he may not win even if the poll is correct, but we’ve got to take him seriously now.
Read more: Poll shows Burnham is slight favourite as 6 pc of party supporters back fake candidate
Corbyn has also been given a recent boost from hard-left union Unite, as the trade union body says it will flood the race with 70,000 supporters.