Bookmakers have suggested that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves could be out of a job within a year, as markets have not welcomed her fiscal policies so far.
Ahead of Reeve's Spring Statement this afternoon, Pat McFadden was the favourite with William Hill to replace Reeves as the UK's next finance minister.
McFadden is 5/2 to take over the reins from the Reeves, ahead of Darren Jones at 7/2, Wes Streeting at 7/1 and Ellie Reeves, sister of the Chancellor and former chair of the Labour Party, at 12/1.
“With today’s Spring Statement likely to announce further tightening of the purse strings, the coming months might prove to be a tricky period for the already under-pressure Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and we make it a 36% chance that she is no longer in position come this time next year," said William Hill spokesperson Lee Phelps.
McFadden, current minister for intergovernmental relations, is "seemingly waiting in the wings should Reeves stand aside", he added.
Ulster-born McFadden is a Labour lifer, having been Labour's Scottish Affairs spokesman, a speechwriter and policy adviser to John Smith and then an adviser to Tony Blair in opposition before becoming political secretary when Blair become Prime Minister, and later working in the cabinet under Gordon Brown as business minister.