With no polling carried out on the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, arguably the best guide to the result comes from the bookies. Paddy Power, which has Labour on 1/6 to hold the seat, has made this amusing prediction:
What Nick Clegg believes about his party’s chance of winning Oldham East contradicts all recent betting patterns. Victory for the Lib Dems in Oldham is now as unlikely as Manchester United finishing at the bottom of this year’s Premier League with Roy Keane in charge!
As I suggested earlier, Clegg may well regret describing the by-election as a “two-horse race” between the Lib Dems and Labour if his party is pushed into third place. The heckler who today told Clegg, “‘I’m disgusted by the way you stabbed my generation in the back” is unlikely to be alone.