Captain Moonlight: Easy bets for MP's

GOOD news for Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat president who won pounds 2,500 by backing his party to do badly in the European elections. William Hill, on whose premises he laid his pounds 50 at 50-1 on the Lib Dems only getting two seats, are going to invite him to open their new Westminster betting shop, in Great Minster, only two furlongs from Parliament, next month. On offer: a free bet. Anxious to secure him another promising little flutter, I asked William Hill what Kennedy's chances of becoming party leader were now. Bad news, I'm afraid, Charles: you're 6-4 favourite. 'Nobody else, really, is there?' confided a spokesman after consulting with his political odds-setter.