Hi Aloysius, your question is of the type "how long is a piece of string" I'm afraid. There is so much unknown as every situation will be different and the higher education landscape could have changed yet again in a few years.
What I would say is in that in arts subjects, funding is ridiculously competitive, even with a distinction in your masters. As for a job, again, research and lectureship posts are increasingly more and more competitive. Not saying it's impossible, just be prepared to face some very large obstacles.