Sajid Javid’s odds have tumbled to become Next Prime Minister after Theresa May appointed him Home Secretary following the resignation of Amber Rudd over the Windrush deportation scandal.
Ms Rudd’s fall from grace became almost inevitable after she was caught misleading Parliament over the government’s target figures for deportation. Mr Javid, the former Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, is filling his fourth role in a Cabinet and was tipped as a future Prime Minister by Forbes Magazine back in 2014. However, the picture being painted of a bus driver’s son come good, suggesting he is atypical of most Tory politicians, is not entirely forthcoming. A former board member at Deutsche Bank, he is a multi-millionaire which very much fits the bill for a government minister belonging to the Conservative Party.
Without wishing to sound cynical, it is almost certain that Mr Javid’s colour and roots has played a part in his elevation to a lofty position within government but these factors could also be detrimental in his ambitions to rise even higher. It’s a fact that Britain, nowadays, is not as racially-tolerant as some would like to believe.
Nonetheless, you only have to look at those names above Sajid Javid (a general 20/1) in the betting to become Next Prime Minister and you realise that there is a dearth of quality among the opposition. Boris Johnson is 14/1 with Coral and who, in their right mind, would trust his fellow Brexit conspirator Michael Gove, who is two points lower?
Jeremy Corbyn is a best 11/2 but the Labour leader will never convince the tabloids, and other sections of the media, that he is anything but a stooge for the Kremlin. That leaves one of the most hated despised politicians of modern times, Jeremy Hunt (20/1 with Coral). The Health Secretary could be a facing a scandal of his own shortly regarding the non-reporting of assets, and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
What can you say about Mr Rees-Mogg that hasn’t been said before? Anti-Europe, anti-abortion and about 100 years behind the times, it’s genuinely frightening that bookmakers see him as their favourite (9/2) to be Britain’s next PM. Maybe Mr Javid wouldn’t be such a bad choice after all!
Odds to be Britain’s Next Prime Minister
Jacob Rees-Mogg 9/2, Jeremy Corbyn 11/2, Michael Gove 12/1, Boris Johnson 14/1, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt 20/1, Dominic Raab 25/1, Gavin Williamson and Ruth Davidson 33/1, Amber Rudd, Emily Thornberry, Philip Hammond and James Cleverly 50/1
