“It’s all over. A shellacking.”

That was the reaction of Joe Lee, Paddy Power’s head of political trading as the exit poll predicting a Conservative landslide, the biggest majority since the Thatcher era was released at 10pm.

Sitting at the bookie’s London HQ it almost felt as if Anthony Joshua had been in and delivered a haymaker.

With the poll predicting a majority of 86, the odds on Boris Johnson winning a majority, which had got as long as 1/2 during the day, collapsed in to 1/100, killing the market off at a stroke.

There had been high hopes of an exciting evening and action for punters. The bookie had assembled a three-strong PR team in anticipation.

Trading during the day had been volatile, with people putting varying spins on the turn out in the wake of the queues seen at some poling stations. A number of punters thought it meant Labour had got its vote out. Oops.

The Sporting Index spread also moved against the Tories during the day, predicting a much smaller majority than it had been forecasting earlier in the week. That changed too.

There was even some excitement in Paddy Power’s market on Johnson’s seat.

“A case of heart ruling the head,” said Lee. “Those thinking Labour got their voters out were proved wrong.”

General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Show all 35 1 /35 General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Somerset A man dressed as Father Christmas enters his grotto at the Dunster Tithe Barn AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A dog dressed as a bee at a polling station DaveMcgrath1/PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Edenbridge Voters arrive on horses at The Rock Inn pub, being used as a polling station in Chiddingstone Hoath AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Stocksbridge A woman waits outside a cafe, set up as a polling station AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London People queue to cast their ballots, at polling station in Clapham Kelly Molloy/AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and his wife Laura Alvarez pose outside the polling station at Pakeman Primary School in Holloway Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Hartlepool A dog stands next to a polling station sign Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Glasgow Leader of the Scottish National Party Nicola Sturgeon waves as she leaves a polling station after voting Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Boris Johnson holds his dog Dilyn as he leaves a polling station, at the Methodist Central Hall Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Millie wearing a Christmas outfit at a polling station Sewingloon/ Lewis MacDonald via AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A person dressed as Sesame Street character Elmo next to police officers after arguing with a member of Jeremy Corbyn's security detail Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Yorkshire A dog next to a polling station sign on the back of a Land Rover in Low Row PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Northern Ireland DUP leader Arlene Foster arrives at a polling station in Enniskillen PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls London Nuns leave after voting at St John's parish hall AFP via Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Arundel Signs are photographed at a polling station at the Arundel Lido swimming pool facilities Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Eight dogs at a polling station in Dulwich Village PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A presiding officer and a clerk drink cups of tea next to heaters to keep warm as they sit inside their polling station at Ace Laundrette AP General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Hove A dog sits outside a polling station Grizelda Cartoons via Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Brighton Caroline Lucas leaves a polling station with her son Isaac Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A polling station set up inside a pub Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Oxford A dog looks out of the door of a laundrette AFP via Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls New Mills A polling station sign is displayed next to a nativity scene as a voter arrives at a polling station at the Town Hall Getty General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Glasgow Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson and her husband Duncan Hames leave a polling station after voting Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A horse outside a polling station in Epping Forest FSCEPPINGFOREST via Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Narberth A woman leaves a polling station at Hank Marvin, a fish and chips restaurant Reuters General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Mayor of London, Saqid Khan poses with a dog Luna outside a polling station in an undisclosed location in this still image taken from a video uploaded to social media on December 12, 2019 . Saqid Khan/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. SADIQ KHAN Sadiq Khan via REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man leaves a polling station in a railway carriage in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, as voters go to the polls in what has been billed as the most important General Election in a generation. PA Photo. Picture date: Thursday December 12, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Danny Lawson/PA Wire Danny Lawson PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A woman clears the snow at the entrance of a polling station during the general election, in Dalwhinnie, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Russell Cheyne RUSSELL CHEYNE REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man walks outside of a polling station next to the Thelnetham Windmill on the day of the general election in Suffolk, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/John Sibley JOHN SIBLEY REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Horses are tethered outside The Rock Inn pub, being used as a polling station in Chiddinstone Hoath, near Edenbridge, south-east England on December 12, 2019, as Britain holds a general election. (Photo by Ben STANSALL / AFP) (Photo by BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images) BEN STANSALL AFP via Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @onzlo99 of a queue outside a polling station in Balham, London as voters line up to cast their votes in the General Election. PA Photo. Issue date: Thursday December 12, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: @onzlo99/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. @onzlo99 PA General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls HIGH PEAK, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 12: Two dogs sit outside a Polling station at St Matthew's Church in Hayfield on December 12, 2019 in High Peak, England. The current Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the first UK winter election for nearly a century in an attempt to gain a working majority to break the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit. The election results from across the country are being counted overnight and an overall result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning. (Photo by Anthony Devlin/Getty Images) Anthony Devlin Getty Images General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls An election worker adjusts a sign on a polling station in a container outside The Olympian Boxing Club during the general election in Sunderland, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Craig Brough CRAIG BROUGH REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls A man walks past a polling station in Stamford Hill during the general election in London, Britain, December 12, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls HENRY NICHOLLS REUTERS General election 2019: Dogs, Santa and even Elmo at the polls Voters queue at the entrance of a portacabin set up as a polling station in Brighton and Hove, southeast England, as Britain holds a general election on December 12, 2019. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP) (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) GLYN KIRK AFP via Getty Images

Badly wrong. As the exit poll dropped, the trader’s focus switched to calculating the price on Jeremy Corbyn stepping down on Sunday.

The odds? 1/50. So another done deal. The bookie was discussing paying out early on that one. The implied probability at that price: 98 per cent. Corbyn out was trending on Twitter. And no one was singing “oh Jeremy Corbyn”.

At the time of writing he was 3/1 to have gone by 9am. In a battle of least worst options, he appears to have lost decisively. And maybe the country has lost with him.

How about Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, who helped Johnson achieve his ambition by backing the bill paving the way for an election?

It would be very hard to see her sticking around after the way that one seems to have gone. She’s 1/7 to be gone by the end of the year. That’s always assuming she remains in parliament. It’s odds against that happening. The price of her losing her seat at the time of writing? 1/3. Just deserts, some may feel.

That made the most exciting market in the wake of the poll’s release the one on who may be the next Labour leader.

The runners and riders will have likely been on the phone to their campaign teams if they had any sense.

Keir Starmer has been installed as the 9/4 favourite as the next Labour leader. Grey, but a safe pair of hands I suppose for a party that clearly has some serious thinking to do.

He was followed by Rebecca Long Bailey, at 7/2, then Yvette Cooper (9/1). Angela Rayner, Laura Pidcock and Emily Thornberry (were all being offered at 10/1). Jess Philips could be interesting outsider coming up on the rails at 16/1. She might have what it takes to fire up a party that needs to find something from somewhere.

It’s about time the party had a woman leader. They could hardly do any worse than the man who has the job for now.