10 February 2026

Al Carns for leader site registered yesterday

The armed forces minister has been widely discussed as a dark horse replacement for Keir Starmer

A website appearing to support Al Carns, the armed forces minister, in a future Labour leadership contest was registered yesterday.

Data from the website who.is shows the web address “alcarnsforleader.co.uk” was registered on 9 February. Despite being a junior minister and a relatively inexperienced member of government, dark horse Carns has still been discussed seriously among MPs as a potential successor to Starmer. Supporters believe that his background as a colonel in the Royal Marines will help Labour win back support it has lost under Starmer.

Mere hours after the address was registered, Carns lent his support to Starmer in a post on X, writing “the PM is a genuinely good man and has my support – and my loyalty.” He also added that “being the Prime Minister is the hardest job in politics – there are no easy days but our country needs stability.” Carns has been contacted for comment.

He isn’t the only Labour MP who has had a site registered despite publicly backing the prime minister. It was revealed yesterday that a website supporting another potential leadership contender, Angela Rayner, briefly went live last month before being taken down.

Screenshots of the front page for “angelaforleader.co.uk” showed a photo of the former deputy prime minister accompanied with text “Angela Rayner is running for leader to fight for a working class Britain.”

Like Carns, Rayner has rowed in behind Starmer, urging the Labour Party “to come together, remember our values and put them into practice as a team.”

Last November, the New Statesman broke news that a website backing another frontrunner for the top job, Wes Streeting, had been registered. Records show the website “wesforleader.co.uk” was created on 11 November 2025.

URLs appearing to support Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper, and Ed Miliband were also registered yesterday. But this was all revealed to be a ruse by the satirical election candidate, Count Binface, as visits to those addresses were hijacked and redirected to the Count’s own website instead.

Note: This article was amended on February 10 2026 to remove an assertion that Al Carns is the minister for veterans and people, a role which he no longer holds. He is now the armed forces minister.

[Further reading: How Keir Starmer survives]