Minister of Justice Michael Gove said: “I have come, reluctantly, to the conclusion that Boris can not provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead”.
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It came after business minister Anna Soubry said Mr Gove had “behaved appallingly” in pledging his support for Boris Johnson and then withdrawing it at the last minute.
I said it would lose him the leadership.
Gove said he would end the free movement of European Union immigrants into the United Kingdom, one of the principles of the alliance, which will have 27 members after Britain’s exit.
But like other German and European officials this week, he didn’t define what he meant by “quickly”.
Mr Wallace also suggested that Mr Gove destroyed Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign amid suggestions that he “knifed him in the back”. Sources have reported that some Conservative ministers have attempted to dissuade Mr Gove from his leadership bid so that the party can unite around presumed frontrunner Theresa May.
Gove says he has been advocating a British exit, or Brexit, for 20 years.
It comes after a year Home Secretary, and current Tory leadership candidate, Theresa May blocked the deployment of the water cannons by any police force in England and Wales to the humiliation of Johnson.
The Justice Secretary said it was “telling” that Mr Johnson had failed to continue with his leadership bid, adding that while he had “great talents and great abilities”, he lacked the “grit”, “executive authority” and “sense of purpose” to be Prime Minister.
“Right until the 11th hour I was talking to parliamentary colleagues, friends seeking to persuade them that Boris could lead the country and could be prime minister but in the final 24 hours there were actions that were taken, decisions that were ducked that led me to believe…”
The Daily Mail newspaper, widely read among Conservative grassroots who will ultimately select the new leader, endorsed her with a front-page headline saying: “A party in flames and why it must be Theresa”.
But he said while Johnson had campaigned “with passion and brio”, he had concluded the flamboyant former mayor did not have what it took to be prime minister. Conservative MPs will start voting on the five-person field next Tuesday, whittling the candidates down to two in a series of secret ballots.
The former mayor of London, highest-profile figure in the Leave campaign and the most anticipated successor of Cameron, Mr. Johnson, shockingly announced that he would not even run in the race.
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But her “reluctant Remainer” position during the referendum may hurt her chances, with 55% believing the next PM needs to be pro-Brexit to get the best deal from the European Union, the survey of 2,001 adults showed. The MP with the fewest votes will be eliminated, one at a time, until two remain.
