Punters in the money after Sarwar's "Jeffrey" joke

Following President Obama's mix up of the George Osborne's name where he referred to him as "Jeffery" the Labour MP Anas Sarwar used it to made a joke at Treasury questions where he also referred to the Chancellor as Jeffery. In the immediate aftermath of President Obama's gaffe the bookies had offered 3/1 that anyone referred to George as Jeffrey in the House of Commons this year with those odds slashed to 6/4 then evens within minutes as the gamble grew. 

Sarwar's joke has triggered the biggest payout in novelty political betting history according to Ladbrokes as it handed eagle-eyed political punters over £10,000 in what is the biggest ever novelty political payout, doubling sums paid when Eric Pickles was seen tucking into a salad at the last Tory party conference and tripling the figure returned after Ken Clarke fell asleep in the 2011 budget.

In a precautionary measure the bookies have also slashed the odds of the Chancellor renaming himself to Jeffrey to 10,000/1 while it's 100/1 he hooks up with the original Jeffrey Osborne in the studio this year.

Alex Donohue of Ladbrokes said: "The gag may have fallen flat but punters are laughing all the way to the bank. It's by far our biggest ever novelty political payout, making sums won when Ken Clarke took a nap look like small change."