Mordaunt supporters 'hijack' Zahawi's slogan to direct to her website

The Tory leadership contest today descended into angry accusations of ‘dirty tricks’ and ‘dark arts’ – with supporters of one candidate even revealed to have ‘hijacked’ a rival’s campaign slogan.

Tempers have flared between competing camps ahead of this afternoon’s first round of voting among Conservative MPs.

There are eight contenders left in the race to be prime minister, with ex-Chancellor Rishi Sunak the frontrunner ahead of Penny Mordaunt, Liz Truss, Tom Tugendhat, Kemi Badenoch, Nadhim Zahawi, Jeremy Hunt and Suella Braverman.

But Mr Sunak is facing a ‘stop Rishi’ campaign from allies of Boris Johnson, who have accused him of treachery after his dramatic resignation last week precipitated the PM’s downfall.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, who is fiercely loyal to Mr Boris Johnson, tore into Mr Sunak’s campaign as she claimed they were lending support to Mr Hunt in a bid to knock out less beatable rivals.

Meanwhile, Ms Mordaunt’s supporters were revealed to have seized on Mr Zahawi’s ‘NZ 4 PM’ slogan, with the domain name ‘nz4pm.com’ redirecting to her own ‘PM 4 PM’ website.

Rishi Sunak is facing a 'stop Rishi' campaign from allies of Boris Johnson, who have accused the ex-chancellor of treachery after his resignation last week precipitated the PM's downfall

Rishi Sunak is facing a ‘stop Rishi’ campaign from allies of Boris Johnson, who have accused the ex-chancellor of treachery after his resignation last week precipitated the PM’s downfall

Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who are both fiercely loyal to Mr Johnson, have been fiercely critical of Mr Sunak

Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg, who are both fiercely loyal to Mr Johnson, have been fiercely critical of Mr Sunak

Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak's campaign of 'dark arts' ahead of the first round of voting among Tory MPs

Ms Dorries accused Mr Sunak’s campaign of ‘dark arts’ ahead of the first round of voting among Tory MPs

Once Tory MPs have whittled down the eight-strong field to a final pairing – with voting to start this afternoon – the wider Conservative membership across the country will be balloted to choose between the last two contenders.

Accusing Mr Sunak’s team of syphoning off votes to Mr Hunt in the early stages of the leadership contest, Ms Dorries said: ‘This is dirty tricks/a stitch up/dark arts.Take your pick.

‘Team Rishi want the candidate they know they can definitely beat in the final two and that is Jeremy Hunt.’

But Mr Hunt immediately rubbished Ms Dorries’ claims as ‘absolute nonsense’.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, who abandoned his own leadership bid yesterday and has now thrown his support behind Mr Sunak, also rejected the allegation.

He said: ‘Simply, web site in this case it just didn’t happen. Jeremy Hunt himself has said everybody on his nomination paper is somebody who is very close to his campaign. So even he has rubbished it.’

As well as the claims of ‘dark arts’ by Ms Dorries, Mr Sunak’s campaign is also having to battle a continuing onslaught by Jacob Rees-Mogg, another loyalist of Mr Johnson’s.

Both Ms Dorries and Mr Rees-Mogg are backing Ms Truss, who is now being viewed as the ‘continuity Boris’ candidate.

Mr Rees-Mogg accused Mr Sunak of raising tax to ‘socialist’ levels during his time in charge of the Treasury and ‘squandering’ the Tories’ record on the economy. 

He has condemned the timescale for the contest to replace Mr Johnson as Tory leader and – in a further swipe at Mr Sunak – claimed it ‘favours’ those who were ‘disloyal’ to Mr Johnson.

Mr Rees-Mogg claimed Mr Sunak had spent six months or more ‘cogitating’ a leadership bid.

Supporters of Penny Mordaunt 'hijacked' her rival Nadhim Zahawi's 'NZ 4 PM' slogan by redirecting internet searchers to her own website

Supporters of Penny Mordaunt ‘hijacked’ her rival Nadhim Zahawi’s ‘NZ 4 PM’ slogan by redirecting internet searchers to her own website

The Chancellor has seen the website 'nz4pm.com' snapped up by those backing his rival Ms Mordaunt

The Chancellor has seen the website ‘nz4pm.com’ snapped up by those backing his rival Ms Mordaunt 

Whoever was behind the domain name trickery insisted it was not to do with Ms Mordaunt herself

Whoever was behind the domain name trickery insisted it was not to do with Ms Mordaunt herself

Mr Zahawi has been promoting his 'NZ 4 PM' slogan, but now apparently won't be able to use 'nz4pm.com'

Mr Zahawi has been promoting his ‘NZ 4 PM’ slogan, but now apparently won’t be able to use ‘nz4pm.com’ 

There is also fierce battling between those not considered frontrunners in the race, with Ms Mordaunt’s backers said to be ‘cyber-squatting’ in direct action against Mr Zahawi’s campaign.

Mr Zahawi, who replaced Mr Sunak as Chancellor last week, is yet to launch an official campaign website but has been promoting his ‘NZ 4 PM’ slogan.

Now, when internet searchers attempt to find Mr Zahawi’s would-be website ‘nz4pm.com’ – they are redirected straight to his competitor’s homepage ‘pm4pm.com’.

After clicking on nz4pm.com, voters are met with a white screen with the words: ‘Vote Penny Mordaunt in this 2022 Conservative election.’

Moments later, users are taken to the Portsmouth North MP’s swanky homepage.

But whoever was behind the domain name trickery insisted it was not to do with Ms Mordaunt herself.

A message on the redirect page reads: ‘Disclaimer: This website does not belong to Penny Mordaunt or the Penny Mordaunt campaign. Penny is not to blame for this and it has nothing to do with her.Remember to buy you domains, Nadhim.’

Ms Mordaunt’s supporters were praised for the ‘pre-emptive cyber-squatting’ in a bid to nab supporters trying to get to the Chancellor’s website.

Journalist Rob Minto spotted the technical trick, writing: ‘OK, domain wars are ON.Zahawi is using the hashtag NZ4PM, but nz4pm.com redirects to pm4pm.com, Penny Mordaunt’s campaign website!

‘Digital skills: Zahawi 0 – 1 Mordaunt.’ 

Others called the trick ‘comedy gold’ ahead of the Stratford-upon-Avon MP’s website launching tomorrow. 

One user said: ‘Lesson one of PR in the digital age Register all your domain names BEFORE you publish the logos.’

A second keen onlooker added: ‘This is brilliant.Cyber warfare has broken out in the Conservative leadership contest.’

Another person wrote on Twitter: ‘If you can’t manage to register a domain name how the hell can you aspire to be PM?’

But others, including Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, found the digital trick less amusing.

She wrote: ‘What japes.Meanwhile, in the real world, people are struggling to feed their kids…and the UK government with the power and resources to act is utterly paralysed.’

Mr Zahawi and Ms Mordaunt’s campaign teams have been contacted for comment. 

It comes as former health secretary Sajid Javid – who triggered the downfall of Mr Johnson by resigning last week – dropped out last night after falling short of the 20 endorsements from Conservative MPs needed to feature in the first round of voting.

Home Secretary Priti Patel also withdrew and refused to say who she will be backing, but her exit is a potential fillip to Ms Truss’s campaign.

Outsider candidate  also conceded defeat shortly before yesterday’s 6pm deadline for securing the threshold of 20 supporters.

He had no publicly declared backers.