Tory leadership contenders register websites

Penny Mourdant is one of the MPs seen as a serious contender for the Conservative leadership - PAUL GROVER

Websites backing potential Conservative leadership contenders, ahead of the race to take over from Rishi Sunak if the party loses this week’s election, have been registered.

Domains that match the names of likely contenders have been created, or updated in recent months – with some redirecting to Conservative campaign material.

‌Kemi Badenoch, the Business and Trade Secretary, on Sunday refused to rule out a tilt at the leadership, should Rishi Sunak resign after an election defeat. However, she added that premature speculation was “disrespectful” to the Prime Minister.

She is seen as one of the frontrunners to succeed Mr Sunak and even the domain name kemi4leader.com, which redirects to the Conservative Party homepage, was registered in West Yorkshire on April 18.

‌Kemi Badenoch has refused to rule out throwing her hat in the ring for the Tory leadership race - CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER

A separate website, backingbadenoch.co.uk, was last updated on June 27 and is thought to be a grassroots effort with an accompanying active social media presence.

‌A web page that was used for her leadership attempt in 2022, kemiforprimeminister.com, no longer exists.

Suella Braverman set up the suella4leader.co.uk website to promote her campaign in the summer of 2022. The website was last updated on June 10 and sends users directly to Braverman’s personal website.

Braverman and Badenoch are understood to deny that the websites in their current form had anything to do with them or their team. Braverman is understood to have not used the website since the 2022 leadership campaign.

Even Suella Braverman's website was recently updated, however it is said she has not used it since the 2022 leadership campaign - PAUL GROVER

Penny Mourdant, the Commons leader, is seen as a serious contender for the leadership – having reached the final three last time round.

Her website, pm4pm.com, used during her last leadership campaign, was last updated on the day of the local elections in May and now redirects to Mordaunt’s personal website. It is understood the website was renewed so the domain could be kept live rather than as an active leadership challenge.

A social media account, Penny Mordaunt for PM, describes itself as a “grassroots campaign” and has been kept reasonably active.

Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, also refused to rule out running in an interview with The Sun on Sunday. He said: “Let’s see what happens.”

Some or the contenders' domain names redirect to Conservative campaign material - ALAMY/INCAMERASTOCK

Last week it was revealed that Steve Baker, the Northern Ireland minister, wanted to throw his hat into the ring should he keep his seat.

Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, also did not rule out putting his name forward. He previously told Times Radio: “We’ll deal with hypotheticals in a different way.

“I mean, the reality is Rishi Sunak is the candidate, there’s only two candidates for prime minister, there’s Rishi Sunak and there’s Sir Keir Starmer.”

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