Perhaps the hottest bet among UK bookmakers is not whether to sell the pound, but whether to short their tough head of government.
Overwhelming odds predict Prime Minister Liz Truss will be overturned before the end of the year. For the bookies, the only question that remains seems to be whether a store-bought lettuce head can outlast her fraught six-week tenure at 10 Downing Street, which has saw her conservative Tory Party support poll drop to an all-time low.
When things are stable, it’s not good either: she lose to leafy vegetables (at least figuratively). If Truss resigned before the end of that year, it would make her the shortest-serving UK prime minister in history, beating the record set in 1827 by George Canning, who died after only four months in office.
“Things have taken a turn for the worse for Liz Truss and the Tories, and we’re currently looking at one of the biggest swings in recent history between elections.” Alex Apati says, a spokesman for betting firm Ladbrokes, on Sunday. “Forget about lettuce, the latest odds suggest that Truss will do well to extend the life of sewing flies at this rate.”
Presentbetting £9 ($10) on Truss walking the board before the year ends will only yield an extra £4 payout, implying the probability she won’t survive in 2022 is close to 70%.
Speculation about Truss’ exit spiked after a particularly scathing commentary in The Economistwhich ended last week that — once stripped of the official 10-day mourning period for the Queen’s death — Truss sought to rescind her prime ministership after just seven actual government days: “It’s a shelf life: of a lettuce plant.”
Newspaper left center Daily Star ran with comparison, posting a direct link to an “orange lettuce” where people could watch the race between Liz Truss, symbolized by a framed portal and vegetables.
‘Whatever is necessary’
Installed at the office in early September as replaces her scandalous predecessor Boris JohnsonTruss’ political fortunes dwindled last month as her signature plan to grow the economy with tax cuts unpaid pound drop and The pension fund is almost bankrupt.
The public markets revolted after her government failed to present some evidence that her trickle tax cuts, which benefit the wealthy, would not lead to unsustainable levels of debt. .
“For the past few weeks, the government has looked like libertarian jihadists and treated the whole country like a kind of lab rat to conduct super free, super free market experiments.” Tory MP Robert Halfon, who said his voters in Essex were really scared by her budget plan. “There’s horror story after horror story – it’s not just about tax cuts for the rich, it’s about cutting benefits. [and] cut public services. “
Meanwhile, a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England said the UK has gone from comparing financially prudent Germany to becoming cast in the same boat as the main characters of Italy and Greece.
Now, experts argue that the new head of the UK Treasury, Prime Minister Jeremy Hunt, is the de facto prime minister, directing the British government’s fiscal policy on behalf of Truss. Meanwhile, her party seems to be conspiring internally the best way to remove her from office without pushing for a snap election that will almost certainly lead to an election. erased for Tories.
On Monday, Hunt effectively reversed much of its fiscal stimulus plan to add £32 billion ($36 billion) in tax revenue a year and better balance its books.
“Growth requires confidence and stability, and the UK will always pay its way,” he said in a broadcast statement. “This government will therefore take whatever tough decision is necessary to do so.”
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