I’m to blame for the Tory split

Michael Gove has blamed himself for the rift with former close friends and political allies David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

The ex-justice secretary admitted his actions in the wake of the Brexit vote fractured his relationship with the pair when he first backed Johnson as Tory leader but then launched his own campaign.

He said: “Sometimes my judgment has been faulty. Sometimes, horrendously faulty.

“But the things that I achieved for good or ill are as a result of backing my judgement and following through on what I believed. Maybe I’m too stubborn. But then that’s because I’m determined.”

He admits his friendship w ith Cameron, who resigned after the victory of the Leave EU campaign, had been ended by the former PM after Gove supported Brexit.

Aberdeen-born Gove, 49, who was sacked by Theresa May, said: “There are some people who, because of the referendum campaign, were good friends and who are no longer good friends.

“Not many, but there are some – and it is directly as a result of the referendum campaign.”

On Cameron, he added: “I haven’t talked to him for a while and I think, in fact I’m pretty certain, he feels annoyed and let down and that’s a shame.”

He said he had changed his mind about backing Johnson after fearing he wasn’t capable of uniting the par ty and says he regretted his actions.

Gove added: “In order to explain it fully, you need to go over the entrails of what happened in the past and I don’t want to do that because no matter how many times you rerun the movie it has the same ending, which is me driving 100mph and crashing into a brick wall.”