Furious Boris backers condemn Gove to ‘a deep pit in hell’ after he knifes Johnson and aims for Number 10
Justice Secretary abandons Leave campaign brother-in-arms at the eleventh hour to make hasty bid to become PM
BORIS Johnson’s lifelong ambition to be PM is in ruins after an extraordinary knifing by Brexit pal Michael Gove.
At the eleventh hour, the Justice Secretary and Leave campaign brother-in-arms dramatically abandoned BoJo to make his own pitch for Britain’s top job instead on Thursday morning.
Mr Gove accused the former London Mayor of being too shambolic to run the nation and unable to provide “team captaincy”.
Crushed by what his seething aides dubbed “a disgraceful betrayal” and fearing he no longer had enough MPs to back him, Boris decided to pull out of the race.
The Commons was alight with bitter recriminations last night, in what was being seen as one of the most brutal political assassinations in decades.
Senior allies of Boris accused Mr Gove of having plotted the whole “operation” to bring Boris down for days.
One senior figure on his campaign told The Sun: “Gove is the c*** who set this up from the start”.
Another, the Tory MP Jake Berry, tweeted in fury: “There is a very deep pit reserved in Hell for such as he”.
Mr Johnson stunned Westminster by making the shock announcement in the middle of his own launch speech three hours later.
Even Boris’s younger brother sitting in the audience, Universities Minister Jo Johnson, had no idea it was coming, he told The Sun.
BoJo told a packed room of supporters and journalists that the next Tory leader would have to unify his party and ensure that Britain stood tall in the world.
Dropping the bombshell to gasps of horror from some, he added: “Having consulted colleagues, and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me”.
Boris’ former MEP father Stanley Johnson likened Mr Gove to the Roman senators who murdered Julius Caesar.
Stanley said: “’Es tu Brute’ is my comment on that.
It emerged that behind the scenes tension has been building between Mr Gove and Mr Johnson for days after a series of unforced leadership campaign blunders.
Explaining his decision bluntly, Mr Gove said of Boris: “I had hoped he would rise to the occasion.
“I tried as hard as I could but last night, reflecting on this, I came to the conclusion that ultimately Boris could not build that team, and could not provide that leadership and that unity.
“It had to fall to someone else.”
He added: “There were a number of people who said to me during the week, Michael it should be you’.
“As someone who had argued consistently that we should leave the European Union, and as someone who’s experienced at the highest levels in the Cabinet, I felt it had to fall to me.”
Mr Gove has harboured a secret ambition to be PM for months despite all his public denials, confidantes told The Sun.
The Justice Secretary told TV viewers to “count me out” of the nation’s top job just three weeks ago during a referendum debate.
In a lunch with a friend before the referendum campaign earlier this year, Mr Gove admitted to having been “98%” sure he would never run for No10.
Former Tory Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell was scathing about Mr Gove, saying: “He’s been telling us for the last five years he doesn’t want to do it and he hasn’t got it in him to do it – so his conversion to Damascus has come pretty late”.
The Sun can reveal the final flashpoint that lead Mr Gove to jump ship was a raging row on Wednesday night over whether to buy off rival leadership contender Andrea Leadsom with the job offer of Chancellor in Boris’s Cabinet.
An extraordinary allegation of skullduggery was made against Mr Gove’s key lieutenant, Skills Minister Nick Boles, who also jumped ship with him.
He was accused of not delivering a handwritten letter by Boris containing the job offer to Energy Minister Ms Leadsom on purpose.
But that was furiously denied, and it emerged that Boris had failed to write the letter in time.
The high drama came with just a few hours to spare before Thursday’s noon deadline for nominations to be the new Tory leader.
A total of five candidates are now running, with the final two to be offered up to the party’s members after voting by Tory MPs ends on July 12.
Home Secretary Theresa May was being seen as the big winner from Thursday’s dramatic coup.
A flurry of MPs previously backing BoJo immediately went over to Mrs May’s camp, including party grandee Nicholas Soames and senior backbencher Nadhim Zahawi.
Another former Boris backer,Tory MP Kwazi Kwartang, told The Sun: “I’m backing Theresa.
“I want a grown up. This is student politics”.
Another senior Westminster figure said: “Anyone but Boris has turned into anyone but Gove”.
Other MPs who were previously undeclared came out for Mrs May too.
Business minister Anna Soubry was one of them, saying: “Perhaps we’ve had enough of these boys messing about.”
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also endorsed Mrs May after he abandoned his own fledgling bid.
But pro-EU Scottish Tories leader Ruth Davidson had no niceties for Boris, having bitterly clashed with him during the final TV referendum debate at Wembley Stadium.
Ms Davidson said: “Leadership is hard.
“It’s not for everyone.
“Some people haven’t got it.
“Maybe he’s one of them”.
Other former Boris supporters transferred their endorsement to Mr Gove, including Culture Minister Ed Vaizey and Justice Minister Dominic Raab.
Despite penning a gushing article in praise of Boris in The Sun yesterday, Mr Raab stuck the boot into him too, saying: “Boris was cavalier with assurances he made.
“We’re picking a prime minister here to lead the country, not a school prefect.”
Another prominent Leaver, Employment Minister Priti Patel, also privately declared her support for Gove.
Hezza: It's No1 crisis
LORD Heseltine last night accused Boris Johnson of triggering the “greatest constitutional crisis of modern times”.
Hezza likened BoJo’s withdrawal from the Tory leadership race after the Brexit vote to a general deserting his troops.
He blasted: “He’s ripped the party apart. He’s created the greatest constitutional crisis of modern times.
“He’s knocked billions off the value of the nation’s savings.
“He’s like a general who leads his army to the sound of guns and at the sight of the battlefield abandoned the field. I have never seen so contemptible and irresponsible a situation.”
The peer added Boris would now “have to live with the shame of what he’s done”. He said: “Without him there would be none of this uncertainty, and he’s abandoned the field.”
Out of the blue…
— MP Nadine Dorries swaps stunned looks with a fellow Boris backer after he announces bombshell