Michael Gove has ruled out running against Boris Johnson again as a potential new Conservative party leader when he admitted to making a “mistake” in doing so in 2016.
The development secretary said he believed the prime minister was “doing a good job” after more than 40% of Tory MPs urged him to quit.
Anger at Johnson has spread across the party in recent months, with backers and ministers frustrated by the series of scandals that have haunted the government, culminating in the Partygate saga. However, many are also frustrated by political reasons and believe Johnson is not using his 80-member majority in the House of Commons to pursue conservative policies and lower taxes.
Cabinet ministers have gathered around Johnson. Asked if he trusted the prime minister, Gove told Sky News: “Enthusiastic, yes.”
Six years after betraying Johnson by dropping plans to run his leadership campaign and instead launching his own in the 2016 race that followed when David Cameron resigned after the Brexit vote, Gove admitted on Thursday that he made a “mistake “.
He told Sky News: “If you’re been in politics for a while, as I have been, then there are always mistakes that you can look back on. But I think the Prime Minister is doing a good job.”
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Asked whether he would run against Johnson as a potential new leader, Gove emphatically said, “Oh God, no.”
Gove said people should move on after Monday’s embarrassing result for Johnson – as a higher proportion of Tory MPs urged him to stop than for Theresa May in 2018.
He added: “I can understand why some of my fellow MEPs have concerns and I think it is important that over the next two years we show that the government is focused on delivering to the people across the UK. “
Gove has previously called on rebel colleagues to “focus on the priorities of the people” and urged them to “carry out what we were elected to deliver – to level the playing field, reduce crime, secure the benefits of Brexit and improve public services”.
Johnson was optimistic about his political future earlier in the week, insisting that his premiership “had barely begun” and claiming he had “picked up political opponents everywhere” because the government achieved “some very big and very remarkable things. “.
He said during the Prime Minister’s question: “Absolutely nothing and no one … will prevent us from moving forward to deliver to the British people.”
Gove lined up for the Conservative leadership against Johnson again in 2019 and came to the penultimate round – barely beaten to the runoff by Jeremy Hunt. He saw competition from Sajid Javid, Rory Stewart, Dominic Raab, Matt Hancock, Andrea Leadsom, Mark Harper and Esther McVey.
When Johnson won the keys to No. 10, Gove was handed a job as cabinet minister before becoming secretary of state in September 2021.
Gove and his wife of 20 years, columnist Sarah Vine, announced last summer that they were to divorce after “drifting apart”.
