Corbyn joint favourite to become next PM, say Ladbrokes

The odds of Jeremy Corbyn becoming the next Prime Minister have been cut by Ladbrokes, making the Labour leader joint favourite to succeed Theresa May alongside Boris Johnson at 5/1.

The change in odds comes as May invited her opposite number to help draw up a compromise Brexit deal, a move that enraged eurosceptic Conservative MPs such as Nigel Adams, who quit his role as government whip and accused May of trying to "cook up a deal with a Marxist".

Jessica Bridge of Ladbrokes said: "With May and Corbyn meeting for Brexit talks, punters have piled into the Labour leader's odds of entering No.10 next."

Any deal with Corbyn's Labour would undoubtedly result in a softer Brexit than that which May had proposed in her deal, which was already seen as too soft by prominent hard-Brexiteers within her party, with Boris Johnson commenting that Brexit was at risk of becoming soft to the point of "disintegration".

Other prominent suitors for the role of Prime Minister include Michael Gove at 6/1, former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab at 8/1 and Jeremy Hunt at 10/1.