So, what happened? As late as yesterday afternoon, Michael Gove was trying to persuade fellow Cabinet Ministers to back Boris Johnson. This morning, he announced that not only that he was running but that ‘Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead’. Hours later, Boris – reeling from this blow – announced that he would not be running.
Well, one aspect of all this appears to be Gove’s frustration with the way Boris operated. The referendum campaign had led Gove to revise his opinion of Boris, to see him as someone who could be a good Prime Minister. But Gove backers say that, when removed from the discipline of the Vote Leave operation, the old Boris returned. There was particular fury that phone calls that needed to be made to secure support were not made.
There was also, as one Boris supporting MP told me, an emerging divide between pragmatic Brexit and Gove’s more ideological version. There was a sense that what Gove regarded as red line issues were seen as being rather fuzzier by Boris.
These factors led Gove to pull his support, and in the most public manner possible. Theresa May will now double down on her message that she is ‘the serious candidate for serious times’. She will come top in the first round on Tuesday, and by a handsome margin.
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