Berkshire Tory MPs likely to be next Prime Minister
Speculation abounds as to who could become the next leader of the Conservative Party and by extension the next Prime Minister of the UK.
The Oddschecker website has taken a roundup of all the outlets currently taking bets on who will be the next leader of the Conservative Party.
This begs the question: do any of Berkshire’s six Tory MPs stand a chance of becoming Prime Minister?
Theresa May, Conservative MP for Maidenhead and former Prime Minister, is the Berkshire MP who is most likely to become party leader.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson announces his resignation as Prime Minister
Ms May previously served as prime minister from 2016 to 2019, until she resigned after her withdrawal agreements to leave the European Union failed following several votes in parliament.
Betting site Unibet has given Mrs May a 50 to 1 chance of becoming the next leader of the Conservative Party.
Meanwhile, Coral and Boyle Sports give him odds of 100/1, and bet365 rates his odds at 150/1.
But she is unlikely to have won favor with the social conservatives in her party.
Theresa May could be prime minister again
Recently she urged Boris Johnson to ban ‘conversion therapy’ for transgender people as part of the Conversion Therapy Bill.
While the bill would ban conversion therapy intended to change a person’s sexual orientation in certain scenarios, it does not ban transgender conversion therapy due to the “complexity of the issues and the need to further consideration”.
READ MORE: New PM must ‘heal division and unite the country’, says Theresa May as Boris steps down
In April, Mrs. May voted for expanding home abortion pill supply.
During the 2020 pandemic, laws were changed to allow home delivery of abortion pills after a phone or online consultation.
Previously, pills had to be obtained from a hospital or clinic.
Alok Sharma, the Tory MP for Reading West, also has a chance of winning the leadership according to Oddschecker.
The best odds given to him is 66/1, by outlets Bet Victor and Parimatch.
At the other end of the scale, SBK are quite skeptical of securing the top job, giving odds of 999/1.
Alok Sharma is among those named as potential new leaders of the Conservative Party
Mr. Sharma has held many senior positions in government, including Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Secretary of State for International Development and President of COP 26, which meant hosting the Glasgow climate conference last year.
He continues to work as Chair to encourage international partners to follow through on the agreements reached at the conference.
Mr Sharma made no statement regarding Prime Minister Johnson’s resignation on his Twitter profile.
Instead, he expressed his shock at the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and is due to travel to Australia in the coming days.
READ MORE: MP reacts as Boris Johnson announces his resignation as Prime Minister
Of Berkshire’s six Tory MPs, only Ms May and Mr Sharma feature on the betting sites.
The others are Sir John Redwood for Wokingham, James Sunderland for Bracknell, Adam Afriyie for Windsor and Laura Farris for Newbury.
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