Miliband has apparently
told everyone he really means it and he won’t stand. So we are left with the joke candidacies of John McDonnell and Michael Meacher – who are unlikely to even manage to get 44 MPs to back their nomination.
Reid is wounded but circumstances can change, 40/1 currently on Betfair seems a bit too long a price. Particularly as he still very firmly refuses to rule himself out of the running.
Milburn (100/1) would be humiliated and knows it.
Charle Clarke (50/1) is bitter enough to give it a stab “to encourage a debate”, citing principle rather than ambition.
John Hutton (150/1) is another one – he is certain to be sacked by Brown, since he famously told Nick Robinson that
“Brown would be a fucking disastrous PM”. As a result he is not going to feature in a future Brown cabinet.
He is surely worth a few quid as a trading bet on Betfair? Guido has a few quid on him running as an outside bet. He is the only Blairite in the cabinet with the inclination to chance it.