Votey McVoteface: The boat owners taking to the waves to tactically unseat Boris Johnson

An amazing group of anti-Tory activist boat owners are set on unseating the prime minister by sailing away to new shores in order to make the most of some bizarre tactical voting rights. Photo: PA - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images

An amazing group of anti-Tory activist boat owners are set on unseating the prime minister by sailing away to new shores in order to make the most of some bizarre tactical voting rights.

If you live on a houseboat, you technically have no fixed address and can register to vote anywhere you have moored up, or have a local connection to.

Noticing this, the group Votey McVoteface has urged hundreds of boat owners to consider if they have spent time near any one of 11 key marginal seats so they can make the most of their vote through tactically voting to support candidates on the edge of winning.

The group has set their sails on one key target, however: Boris Johnson.

Before the deadline to register to vote closed, Votey McVoteface urged anyone who might have a connection to Boris Johnson’s West London constituency to register to vote there and boost the odds of unseating the prime minister by supporting Labour’s Ali Milani.

Uxbridge and South Ruislip is considered a key marginal, with Boris Johnson’s majority in the 2017 election standing at only just over 5,000 votes.

The group says it has no political affiliation other than being anti-Tory and has just been urging people to make the most of their vote, however, according to The Times, the campaign is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, whose website says it has given Votey McVoteface £12,922. It also appears to have some links with Labour and Momentum campaign organisers.

The group’s organisers have recently posted “Exciting! — Uxbridge (one of the constituencies we’ve targeted) is now a key marginal — a lot of people are saying it’s getting closer and closer… Who wants to head there one evening next week and do some canvassing?” The group are careful to make sure they have “genuine local connections” to the constituencies they vote in, as doing anything otherwise could be electoral fraud.