The pitfalls of internet voting were underlined today when an online poll asking readers to vote for the best candidate for prime minister was sabotaged - resulting in a landslide victory for Robert Kilroy-Silk.
The Bruges Group, a Euro-sceptic think-tank, organised the ballot but yesterday withdrew the results from its website amid suspicious voting patterns. One computer had voted for Ukip MEP Kilroy-Silk more than 1,400 times, pushing Tony Blair into second place, said the group's director Robert Oulds.
Before the poll was scrapped, a Ukip spokesman said that Kilroy-Silk had 1521 votes, Blair 691, Ukip leader Roger Knapman 284, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy 242, Conservative leader Michael Howard 119, and Chancellor Gordon Brown 92.
For fans of the MP turned TV presenter turned anti-Europe campaign figurehead , who may be upset at the spoiling of what might have been a sweet though meaningless victory, may find some comfort here.
George Wright
