TORY DAY OF TREACHERY

Most savage blood letting since fall of Thatcher as Gove knifes Boris in battle to be PM

THE Tory Party was last night embroiled in its most poisonous infighting since Margaret Thatcher was toppled.

On a day of extraordinary bitterness, Michael Gove knifed Boris Johnson in the back – ending the former London Mayor’s dream of becoming Prime Minister.

Mr Gove was accused of treachery and of presiding over an ‘orchestrated plot’ to destroy his fellow Brexiteer after dramatically announcing that he wanted to be the next Tory leader.

Tory MPs said the Justice Secretary had been a ‘cuckoo in the nest’ and deserved to be cast into a ‘very deep pit’ in Hell.

His decision to withdraw his support for Mr Johnson was taken at midnight, only minutes after the two men had been at a party together canvassing for support. For his part, Mr Gove said that, over the past week, he had discovered Mr Johnson lacked ‘leadership’ – and even suggested he was not fully committed to taking Britain out of the EU.

In the savage fallout, which recalled the dark days in 1990 when Mrs Thatcher was felled by her own side:

Mr Gove and his allies said Mr Johnson had been ‘cavalier’ and failed to build a team capable of leading the country;

They claimed he had failed to deliver on an assurance to Andrea Leadsom, a minister who played a key role in the Leave campaign, that she would get a top job;

Friends of Mr Gove said he no longer believed in ‘chaotic Boris’;

Allies of Mr Johnson said Mr Gove had been plotting all along to bring him down so he could run for PM;

They also claimed the Justice Secretary had been guilty of a series of dirty

tricks, while at no point expressing unhappiness with the Leave campaign;

There was speculation that Mr Gove is trying to recruit George Osborne as his Chancellor – an idea many Tory MPs say is ‘toxic’.

Amid the savage fallout from Mr Gove’s decision to run for PM, Home Secretary Theresa May unveiled her own leadership bid with a pledge to unite the country and the Tory Party.

After making a firm commitment that ‘Brexit means Brexit’, she was installed oddson favourite to replace David Cameron inside No 10. Her campaign was backed by more than 60 MPs – including five Cabinet ministers.

The row between Mr Johnson and Mr Gove exploded yesterday morning, after days of simmering tensions between the two big beasts of the successful Leave campaign.

Mr Gove had promised to back Mr Johnson, as part of a ‘dream ticket’, in which he would take the post of Chancellor. As late as Wednesday night, Mr Gove and Mr Johnson were at a summer party hosted by the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers. Mr Gove is said to have had his arm round the ex-Mayor, saying he was the best man for the job. But shortly after 9am yesterday – and without speaking to Mr Johnson directly – Mr Gove announced he was standing himself. Immediately, MPs began deserting Mr Johnson and declaring for Mr Gove.

Shortly before noon, a fatally wounded Mr Johnson had withdrawn from the Tory leadership contest – his long-held dreams of being PM in tatters.

After knocking Mr Johnson out of the contest, Mr Gove took his place alongside Mrs May, Mrs Leadsom, ex-defence secretary Liam Fox and work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb in running for PM.

Mr Gove, twisting the knife deep into the former London Mayor, claimed that Mr Johnson had not been committed to delivering Brexit.

In a devastating BBC Tv interview, he said: ‘‘After the referendum result last week I felt we needed someone to lead this country who believed heart and soul in leaving the european Union. I also believed we needed someone who would be able to build a team, lead and unite. I hoped that person would be Boris Johnson.

‘I came in the last few days reluctantly and firmly to the conclusion that while Boris has great attributes, he was not capable of uniting that team and leading the party and the country in the way that I would have hoped.’

Supporters of Mr Johnson exploded with rage at Mr Gove, who has declared ten times over the past four years that he does not want to be PM. Tory MP Jake Berry said of Mr Gove: ‘There is a very deep pit reserved in Hell for such as he.’

Mr Johnson’s father Stanley quoted from Shakespeare, in a reference to Julius Caesar being knifed by his friend Brutus, saying: ‘“et tu Brute” is my comment on that.’ One ally said: ‘Gove is a c*** who set this up from the start.’ A friend of Mr Johnson said: ‘There was a cuckoo in the nest.’

ex-Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said: ‘He’s been telling all of us for the last five years that he doesn’t want to do it and he doesn’t think he’s got it in him to do it so his conversion on the road to Damascus has come pretty late.’

Within minutes of Mr Gove declaring, key backers Nick Boles and Dominic Raab had defected to him from Mr Johnson. Mr Raab, the justice minister, said: ‘Boris was cavalier with assurances he made. We’re picking a Prime Minister, not a school prefect.’

Another Brexiteer, Chris Grayling, emerged yesterday at the helm of Mrs May’s leadership campaign, while former leadership contender, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, pulled out of the race to also support the Home Secretary. Nicky ‘Miss U-turn’ Morgan also withdrew from the race and remarkably supported Mr Gove, her predecessor as education Secretary.

Mr Johnson held talks with his closest advisers yesterday morning, and was told by election strategist Sir Lynton Crosby that he should withdraw from the race. His dreams in tatters, he reluctantly agreed – turning what was meant to be a declaration event into a political funeral.

Looking drawn, Mr Johnson said the next Prime Minister had to seize Britain’s ‘moment to stand tall in the world’.

To stunned silence among his supporters, he added: ‘But I must tell you, my friends, you who have waited faithfully for the punch line for this speech, that having consulted colleagues and in view of the circumstances in Parliament, I have concluded that person cannot be me.’

His allies said Mr Gove had presided over a calculated plot to ‘ride on Boris’s coat tails and then knife him in the back’. But sources close to Mr Gove denied the allegation. One said: ‘Does Michael really look like the sort of person who plots to stab somebody in the back? Or is it that he saw first-hand just how chaotic Boris is?’