Ladbrokes makes Birrell favourite to replace Coulson as Government comms boss
Ladbrokes has placed Ian Birrell, former deputy editor of The Independent, and now speech writer for Prime Minister David Cameron, as the likely successor to Andy Coulson, who resigned today as the Government’s communications director.
Birrell has been given odds of 6/4 to take the role, while, despite ruling himself out, Ben Brogan, deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, has been placed as second favourite with odds of 4/1.
Piers Morgan is an outsider at 66/1, despite having this week taken over from Larry King with his own US talk show on CNN.
Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: “The rumour mill is churning at full speed already and we expect the money to soon speak volumes about the identity of the new spokesperson.”
Coulson stood down from his role on Friday morning, following months of speculation as a result of the investigation into allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World, while he was editor.
The full list of odds from Ladbrokes as to possible successors is below:
Ian Birrel - 6/4
Ben Brogan - 4/1
Guto Hari - 6/1
Trevor Kavanagh - 6/1
Danny Finkelstein - 8/1
Steve Hilton - 10/1
George Pascoe-Watson - 10/1
David Yelland - 14/1
James Landale - 14/1
Fraser Nelson - 20/1
Rebekah Brooks - 25/1
Iain Dale - 33/1
Nick Robinson - 40/1
Adam Boulton - 66/1
Richard Royal - 80/1
David Williams - 100/1
Paul Staines - 200/1