Michael Gove’s team ‘SPYING on Boris Johnson’ as Tory race gets dirty — but first assault has been foiled

A DIRTY tricks spying operation on Boris Johnson by Michael Gove’s team was foiled tonight as the race to replace Theresa May turned nasty.

The Environment Secretary sent out MPs to find out when Boris was planning his much-anticipated campaign launch.

Mr Gove is desperate to avoid it clashing with his own launch for fear of being overshadowed.

But MPs rumbled the plot tonight, with one telling The Sun: “Gove is frantically sending out spies for when Boris is doing his launch. He doesn’t want to be blown out of the water. They know their man can’t compete on the airwaves.”

Another said: "Michael is desperately trying to avoid a clash because he knows his launch would go down without a trace if he does it on the same day."

A source from Mr Gove’s campaign did not deny trying to spy on Boris.

Asked to comment, the source said: “We wish them well for their launch.”

The plot is reminiscent of the 2016 leadership campaign.

Mr Gove knifed Boris by withdrawing his support for his fellow Brexiteer on the eve of his leadership launch.

BORIS' SOCIAL MEDIA LAUNCH ON MONDAY

On Monday Boris will outline his vision for reforming the education system. One campaign source named it “The Boris schools’ plan”.

Boris is preparing to unveil an “army” of backers as early as tomorrow as he goes public with a social media campaign launch on Monday after deliberately keeping his powder dry for days.

The plan is for a number of Tories to then come out and endorse the ex-Foreign Secretary to cement their man as the one to beat.

Senior Tories believe Boris and Mr Gove are heading for a “clash of the titans” final showdown in the leadership campaign.

Tory MPs whittle the Tory contenders down through a series of knock-out votes to a final two. The pair will then compete for the votes of 160,000 Tory members who elect a winner.

On Sunday Sam Gyimah became the 13th Tory MP to enter the leadership race. But he is likely to be one of the first to be eliminated from the contest because he is pledging to hold a second referendum on Brexit and vote Remain - against the wishes of the vast majority of his fellow Tories.

On Sunday night Communities Secretary James Brokenshire urged leadership no-hopers to drop out in the interests of the party.

He said: “We simply do not have any time to waste.

“We simply do not have the luxury of weeks of navel gazing or days and days of whittling candidates down to the final two and talking to ourselves.

“At a time when the country is looking to us for leadership we need to show this as a Party.

“So I say gently to some of my colleagues who have put themselves forward for what has been described as the Grand National of Political Contests.

“Please think carefully.

“If you already know it’s going to be a bit of a struggle to get over the first fence, let alone Becher's Brook ahead, then maybe you should pull up.

“There is no embarrassment in that.”

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