The leaders of a guerrilla anti-Brexit protest group have offered to sell Nigel Farage the website “thebrexitparty.com” – as long as he is willing to part with more than a million pounds.
Back in April – as Farage prepared to face the European elections as leader of the newly-formed Brexit Party – it was revealed that the website had been claimed by Led By Donkeys, an anti-Brexit group known for posting huge billboards around the UK criticising politicians.
Now, the Brexit Party is calling on the group to remove the party’s logo from the website and de-activate thebrexitparty.com altogether, saying the website was created in “bad faith” to be used against the interests of the party, and has demanded that
But in a statement on the website, Led By Donkeys said that Farage has “no legitimate claim on the website”.
“We bought it, it’s ours,” they said. “However… in the spirit of goodwill and Christmas cheer we are willing to give it to him. For a million quid.”
The group have vowed to donate all of the proceeds to the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, with the price of the website set to go up by £50,000-a-day.
“Over to you Mr Farage,” Led By Donkeys said. “If you really want this website, then stump up the cash.”
Oliver Knowles, the co-founder of the group, told PA Media: “When Farage and his millionaire backers set up the Brexit Party they didn’t have the foresight to buy up all of the websites with their own name – and we did.”
In a statement, the Brexit Party said: “The Brexit Party have issued a legal letter, via lawyers, Wedlake Bell to Led by Donkeys requesting they cease and desist from using the Brexit Party logo and Brexit Party materials on posters, document download site and via their website at thebrexitparty.com.
“They have offered to comply with these requests, but so far they are refusing to transfer the domain name.”
Led By Donkeys has made its name protesting against Brexit with various large-scale projects in public spaces, first going viral in early 2019 by sharing politicians’ past comments on billboards.