Liz Truss registered her Tory leadership campaign website more than a month ago – and shortly after Boris Johnson narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
The foreign secretary is competing against 10 other colleagues to become the next prime minister in a race triggered by Mr Johnson’s resignation last Thursday.
But publicly-available information about her “Liz for Leader” campaign website shows it was registered weeks ago.
The “lizforleader.co.uk” domain was registered on 8 June, according to sites that show key dates for website domains.
This was just two days after Mr Johnson won a no-confidence vote that had been called over his leadership.
The foreign secretary threw her hat into the ring for the next Tory leader on Sunday with a promise to cut taxes and govern “as a Conservative”.
She is up against rivals including Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, whose shock resignations from government last week kicked off the mass exodus of ministers unhappy with Mr Johnson’s leadership.
Other candidates include chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, former health secretary Jeremy Hunt and international trade secretary Penny Mordaunt.
Mr Sunak has also faced scrunity over when his leadership bid started to set its wheels in motion. The Independent first reported there were plans back in January.
Those in support of Mr Sunak have been sharing a link to his campaign website, http://www.ready4rishi.com.
It appears that a site with a slightly different name, http://www.readyforrishi.com, which redirects to the official campaign page, was set up in December 2021.
Mr Sunak’s team said domains are bought all the time, adding that they had been transferred a number of them.
Some of the candidates, such as Grant Shapps and Mr Zahawi, did not appear to have a website set up specifically for their leadership bid as of Monday.
Mr Johnson has vowed to remain as prime minister until his successor is chosen from the crowded list of candidates.
He made his first public appearance on Monday since announcing he would be stepping down. He declined to back any of the candidates vying to replace him as Conservative Party leader, suggesting his support could be damaging.
Boris Johnson says he won’t be backing any of the candidates
Ms Truss has been approached for comment by The Independent.
Ms Truss has promised tax cuts if she wins the Tory leadership race
