Gove blasts Boris

He taunts main rival by saying: Don’t quit race again

MICHAEL Gove last night declared he was ‘in it to win it’ as he launched his leadership campaign with a blistering attack on Boris Johnson.

The embattled Environment Secretary dismissed suggestions he should abandon his bid to succeed Theresa May following the Daily Mail’s revelation that he took cocaine on ‘several social occasions’ 20 years ago.

And he mounted an outspoken attack on Mr Johnson, accusing his former friend of hiding in a ‘bunker’ to avoid scrutiny, and questioning whether he had the self-belief to be prime minister.

Taunting Mr Johnson over his decision to pull out of the 2016 leadership race, Mr Gove said: ‘If I get through – which I’m sure I will actually – to the final two, against Mr Johnson, this is what I will say to him: “Whatever you do, don’t pull out. I know you have before and I know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it but the Conservative Party membership deserve a choice”.’

Mr Gove savaged Mr Johnson’s plan to raise the 40p income tax threshold from £50,000 to £80,000, saying tax cuts should ‘help the poor who are in work to take more home’. He added: ‘One thing I will never do as prime minister is to use our tax and benefit system to give the already wealthy another tax cut.’

He also refused to say whether he would give Mr Johnson a job if he became prime minister. And he hit out at his rival’s decision to avoid speeches and interviews to minimise the risk of making a gaffe. It came as:

Jeremy Hunt’s campaign was boosted by the backing of Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt, a leading Brexiteer;

Mr Johnson faced a backlash over his plans for a £10 billion tax cut for the better-off, with critics saying scarce resources should be targeted at the working poor;

Ten candidates made it on to the ballot paper, with only former universities minister Sam Gyimah, who backs a second referendum, failing to get the eight nominations needed;

Four Tory MPs in marginal seats, including prisons minister Robert Buckland, publicly backed Mr Johnson, taking his endorsements to 65 – almost double those of Mr Gove and Mr Hunt;

Mrs May’s deputy David Lidington said he was backing Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

voting gets under way on Thursday, with MPs expected to whittle down the field to just two by the end of next week. While most of the leadership candidates have been engaged in an exhausting round of speeches and interviews, Mr Johnson has not made a public speech since March 12.

Mr Gove, who endured a grilling over his drug use on live Tv on Sunday, said: ‘ At this time we need someone who has been tested in the heat of battle, someone who is prepared to go under the studio lights in order to make the case for Conservatism – somebody who will take on Jeremy Corbyn at the despatch box, not hide in their bunker.’

And he dismissed suggestions that his campaign was so badly damaged by the drug revelations that he should throw in the towel.

‘I’m in it to win it,’ Mr Gove said. ‘Every time I’ve been given a job, I’ve been told it’s impossible, and have delivered.

‘I [have] explained my regret at my past mistakes. But one of the consequences of having had the chance to reflect on my mistakes is that when I was justice secretary, I was determined to ensure that those people who had fallen into the net of the criminal justice system were given all the support, the help and the care they needed in order to achieve redemption.’ In a wide-ranging speech, Mr Gove insisted he was the ‘serious leader’ needed to deliver Brexit.

He repeated his willingness to be flexible on the October 31 departure date, saying it would be irresponsible to leave when the UK was ‘on the cusp of a deal’. He warned that any attempt to take Britain out without a deal in those circumstances – a policy favoured by Mr Johnson and Dominic Raab – would lead to Jeremy Corbyn being swept into No 10.

Mr Gove said he would abolish business rates for small and medium-sized firms, reform planning laws to deliver more homes and strengthen the country by helping the ‘overlooked families and undervalued communities who were at the heart of the Brexit vote’.

He also vowed to stop ‘moneygrubbing lawyers’ from pursuing historic legal cases against veterans.

‘Whatever you do, don’t pull out’