UK Politics: Bettors back Theresa May to stay after PM dances into conference

Editor
03 October 2018

Theresa May dances on to stage at the Tory Party Conference

Dancing Queen: Theresa May's entrance to Conference appears to have gone down well with bettors

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Betfair punters have reacted positively to Theresa May's speech at the Conservative Party Conference, with her odds to step down as leader this year dancing out to 7/1 from 4/1...

"This time 12 months ago, Theresa May's disastrous conference speech saw her odds of losing the Tory Party leadership slashed, but this time round her interesting entrance to the stage and her speech in general seem to have gone down well with supporters and the betting on Betfair immediately reflected that."

The Prime Minister surprised everyone by 'dancing' on to the stage in Birmingham to Abba's Dancing Queen, a nod to the recent derision at her attempts at a dance with children when on a Government trip to Africa.

The reaction on social media was as cutting as you'd expect.

THIS. IS. NOT. NORMAL pic.twitter.com/nHueua3rut
? Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) October 3, 2018

But bettors were more positive, with the Sportsbook price on May to be Tory leader at 2019 Conference cut into evens from 6/5 and odds on the PM losing the party leadership this year out to 7/1 from 4/1.

This had a knock-on effect on Boris Johnson's price in the Next Tory Leader market, with the former Foreign Secretary's odds pushed out to 5/1 from 7/2 after his attempts at hijacking the conference by attacking May's Brexit policies fell flat.

After May specifically ruled out the so-called People's Vote on the terms of the Brexit deal, 'Another EU Referendum before the end of 2019' drifted out to 4/1 from 2/1.

Katie Baylis, Betfair Spokesperson, said: "This time 12 months ago, Theresa May's disastrous conference speech saw her odds of losing the Tory Party leadership slashed, but this time round her interesting entrance to the stage and her speech in general seem to have gone down well with supporters and the betting on Betfair immediately reflected that.

"While the last few weeks for her have been seemingly catastrophic, we've seen punters backing her to stick around this afternoon and her odds of losing the Tory leadership this year have gone out.

"And while the odds shortened on another EU referendum after Labour's conference last week, they have now drifted out again to 4/1 from 2/1 after she reiterated that there will be no going back on the Brexit vote."

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Prices quoted in copy are correct at time of publication but liable to change.