Bookies lengthen the odds on Brown

GORDON BROWN is the bookmakers’ hot favourite to take over from Tony Blair as prime minister — but he should be worried that his odds have lengthened, bookies have said.

Ever since the Labour Party swept back to office under Blair in 1997, finance minister Brown has been the favourite to succeed him in a smooth handover.

But other candidates have entered the frame from nowhere and could well spoil the long-mooted straightforward Brown coronation — and in politics, the front runners should always be looking worryingly over their shoulders, bookmakers said.