How Count Binface is ruining Labour leadership contenders’ fight to be PM
If you want to run a political campaign, you are going to need a website.
It didn’t take long for that thought to become clear as Sir Keir Starmer fought for his political life last week.
The most valuable website domain names for the prime minister’s key rivals were snapped up after Morgan McSweeney’s resignation over the Lord Mandelson scandal.
A certain Count Binface has been wrecking havoc on future leadership bids by purchasing the sites – but Metro can reveal the political mystery does not end there.
‘Ed, Andy and Yvette are a bit slow’
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There were raised eyebrows last week when it emerged that an ‘Angela for leader’ (angelaforleader.co.uk) website went live last week, apparently laying out Ms Rayner’s reasons for running for the Labour leadership.
The former deputy PM’s team called the website a ‘fake’, but the story had tipped off others.
Within a day, ‘Ed for Leader’, ‘Andy for Leader’ (andyforleader.co.uk) and ‘Yvette for Leader’ domain names were all purchased.
These sites, presumably for key Labour figures Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham and Yvette Cooper, don’t take you to any of their campaigns.
Instead they redirect you to the website for the one and only Count Binface.
The satirical candidate, who stands in high-profile elections, has publicly claimed responsibility for the stunt.
The political icon told Metro: ‘I just saw the Angelaforleader story and thought I spied the opportunity for a few atoms of fun.
‘Five minutes later, and £18 poorer, I’d nabbed them on Squarespace. Easy peasy labour squeezy.’
The tin man was shocked the high-value domain names were still available.
‘My first thought is that Ed, Andy and Yvette are a bit slow on the uptake when it comes to domain purchasing’, he added.
‘But then maybe it’s a sign that they’re at least one per cent focused on the ministerial job they’re being paid to do.’
Count Binface said he ‘can only hope’ that by buying the websites he has disrupted any future attempt of those three senior Labour figures to run for leader.
Miliband, Burnham and Cooper have publicly backed Sir Keir Starmer and deny any leadership ambitions.
A source from Burnham’s camp told us: ‘I wish Count Andy Binface luck as he launches his leadership campaign for the Monster Raving Looney Party.’
The other leadership sites
Metro has uncovered other potential leadership domain names that were also purchased last week, but not by Count Binface.
‘Rachel for Leader’ (rachelforleader.co.uk)and ‘Burnham for Leader’ (burnhamforleader.co.uk) were both reserved at the beginning of last week, on February 9 and 10 respectively.
Count Binface has said those addresses do not belong to him, and they do not redirect to his website.
Neither of the two addresses take you to a functioning site, but that hasn’t stop it from prompting speculation about the leadership ambitions of Andy Burnham and even Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Both teams denied any involvement in the website addresses being purchased.
Reeves’s people dismissed it as ‘mischief making’.
A source close to the Chancellor said: ‘As she has said many times before, she has no intention to run to be Labour leader.’
Burnham’s aides said they did not purchase the domain name, which appears to have been registered with Namecheap, or give permission for anyone else to purchase it.
They added: ‘Whoever has done this has done so without any contact with us.’
The information revealing who is behind these domain names has been redacted.
What is clear is that it would be easy for any voter to buy the domain to prevent the senior politician from getting their hands on it.
Dr Damon Daylamani-Zad, senior lecturer in digital media at Brunel University, told Metro: ‘It is pretty easy to purchase a domain.
‘If one can type and has a credit/debit card, then it is a matter of minutes.’
These websites may not be needed in the immediate term, anyway.
Just after Anas Sarwar called for his resignation, Starmer’s cabinet all came out one by one and backed the PM, saving his skin for now.
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