Three rivals have fallen at the first hurdle as Johnson soars at top of market.
Boris Johnson’s odds have crashed on becoming the next Tory leader, following this afternoon’s runaway first ballot victory.
Johnson is now priced at 1/5 to be the next Tory leader, having been dramatically cut from 4/7 best price this morning. That’s the shortest price he, or anyone else, has been since Theresa May took over.
That’s an implied probability of 83.3% that he emerges the winner, a sharp rise from the 63.6% chance quoted by bookmakers earlier today.
Receiving 114 votes from MPs, the former Foreign Secretary predictably strolled to victory in the first round of the leadership race.
Andrea Leadsom was sitting third in the market until she was eliminated in the first round of voting, with a paltry 11 votes.
Outsiders Esther McVey and Mark Harper also fell after round one.
Punters have sided with Johnson consistently, with 32% of bets today going his way, which is likely to rise significantly following news of the result.
Elsewhere, Jeremy Hunt remains second favourite, but has drifted to 8/1, followed by Michael Gove at 20/1.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: “Remainers will breathe a sigh of relief as Rory Stewart just escaped the cull, but the headline here is the dominance that Boris Johnson seems to have in this leadership race.
“With 114 votes secured and more to come, you could argue that the 83% chance seems on the pessimistic side.”
