I don’t think Gove has said anything similar?
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Mr Gove has repeatedly denied having ambitions to be prime minister in the past and his decision to abandon Mr Johnson sparked a backlash from the former London mayor’s supporters, some of whom accused him of a “betrayal” or “treachery”.
Someone registered the domain gove2016.co.uk where the only content is a cartoon by artist Stephen Collins, depicting Gove crashing a plane he had previously begged Prime Minister David Cameron to pilot.
Rushcliffe MP Ken Clarke has called on Michael Gove to drop his bid to become Prime Minister, accusing him of adding an “air of farce” to the leadership race.
Unlike the Labour party, which requires candidates to be nominated by 15% of its MPs, those wishing to run for the Tory leadership needed only a proposer and a seconder.
His comments are likely to upset and annoy European Union leaders, who have put strong pressure on Britain to start talks soon on leaving the 28-nation bloc.
Gove is up against Home Secretary Theresa May and three others to succeed David Cameron as party leader and become Britain’s next prime minister.
After Johnson walked away from the race, Theresa May, a British Conservative Party politician, is believed to be the frontrunner in becoming the UK’s next Prime Minister.
During his formal launch for the leadership on Friday the Justice Secretary said: “I am standing not as a result of calculation but because I have burning desire to transform this country”.
Mr Gove and his allies were understood to have been concerned that Mr Johnson was not fully committed to ending freedom of movement rules that allow all European Union citizens to live and work in Britain. Asked about Mr Gove’s intervention, he quoted Caesar’s supposed last words after he was stabbed by his former friend Brutus.
“I was thinking about it all the way through, but I was also thinking about what is in the interests of the country, because to me the clear priority is to deliver on the referendum”.
Meanwhile Twitter reacted to the shock decision from Boris Johnson.
Mr. Gove’s announcement early yesterday that he would challenge the leadership was unexpected, as the justice secretary had been expected to throw his weight behind fellow leading Leave campaigner, Mr. Johnson, for Conservative leader.
Conservative lawmakers will whittle the field down to two leadership candidates before the final decision is made by a postal vote of all party members.
At first Mr Johnson is lost for words, until he finally says: ‘I can not, unfortunately, get on with what I wanted to do, so it’ll be up to somebody else now.
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The first test comes on July 5 when the candidate with the least support in that vote will be eliminated, and the victor will be announced on September 9.
