Jordy McKeag's odds have been shortened

BOOKIES believe an election candidate who plans to wager his entire MLA's salary and give any winnings to the homeless has more chance of topping the poll in East Belfast than any nationalist.

Independent protest candidate Jordy McKeag has seen his odds slashed from 300/1 to just 20/1 in recent days.

The 18-year-old trainee joiner from the Shankill is the nephew of the notorious late UDA commander Stevie 'Top Gun' McKeag and the son of a former prisoner.

His campaign is being backed by comedy collective the Notorious Barrick Boys – who have 86,000 followers on Facebook – along with fellow online satirists LAD.

Bookmaker Paddy Power believes Mr McKeag's electoral prospects have increased significantly since campaigning got underway and his odds to top the poll in East Belfast now rank alongside PUP leader John Kyle – and ahead of Sinn Féin candidate Mairead O'Donnell (40/1) and the SDLP's Seamus de Faoite (100/1).

A spokesman for Paddy Power told The Irish News that the initial price for the independent debutante had proved popular with punters.

"85% of all the bets we’ve taken in that market have been on McKeag which has prompted us to slash his odds – the punters seem to think he has a chance anyway," the spokesman said.

Mr McKeag's election agent Cormac MacDiarmada said bookies had underestimated the comedy candidate's prospects at the outset.

"He has touched a nerve with people who are disenfranchised with the system and wee Jordy is the sledgehammer that can take the whole thing down," he said.

"The response on the doors has been great and while initially people laugh, thinking we're not serious, after a while they see that politics is a joke – the only difference is this one is funny."

If elected, the former Orange bandsman plans to take the average industrial wage each year to live on and give the rest to charity. In the final year of the mandate he will gamble his entire £48,000 salary on a 1000/1 accumulator, which he hopes will recoup the money Stormont will lose as a result of the botched Renewable Heat Incentive.

Jordy featured in a celebrated video as a ten year old which has been turned into a dance remix.