Business Secretary Badenoch has long been considered a favourite to succeed Sunak on the Conservative right…reports Asian Lite News
Kemi Badenoch and Suella Braverman have denied being associated with website domains purporting to be for future leadership bids.
It comes as a source close to Penny Mordaunt said she kept her domain active from the 2022 contests “for the same reason you’d keep a spare tire in the boot” – and not to mount a challenge against the PM.
With Rishi Sunak widely expected to lose the election on Thursday, there has been mounting speculation about what direction the Conservatives will head in and who could take command.
While Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker has been open about fancying his chances, other senior Tories are keeping their cards close to their chests.
Over the weekend it emerged a website called kemi4leader.co.uk was registered in April and currently redirects to the Conservative Party homepage.
Business Secretary Badenoch has long been considered a favourite to succeed Sunak on the Conservative right.
Meanwhile, the website used for Badenoch’s leadership attempt in 2022, kemiforprimeminister.com, no longer exists.
It is common for website domain names which may be in demand later to be bought up and sold on for a profit.
Often in this case the domain would be parked and the offer to buy it would be advertised, so it is unusual that in the case of the Kemi4leader site that it redirects to the Conservatives’ home page.
Braverman has also said a website, Suella4leader.co.uk, which redirects to her personal website, has nothing to do with her. This was registered a few days after Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister in July 2022 and was last updated in June this year.
It is a different domain to the one Braverman used when she sought to replace him, which was Suella4leader.com and has since been parked – meaning that it is still registered but not actively being used.
The campaign websites had fuelled speculation the Tories were already eyeing their next move despite polling day still being two days away.
While both women have distanced themselves from the websites, they are widely seen to be possible replacements for Sunak in the event he does lose the election.
ALSO READ-Boris issues surprise last-ditch poll rallying cry