BORIS Johnson has thrown his weight behind Andrea Leadsom in the Tory leadership race saying she had “the zap, the drive, and the determination” needed to succeed David Cameron.
The former London mayor – who led the campaign for Britain to leave the EU only to see his own hopes of the leadership dashed following a devastating attack by Michael Gove – praised the British energy minister as “level-headed, kind and trustworthy”.
“Andrea Leadsom offers the zap, the drive, and the determination essential for the next leader of this country,” he said.
The race for the Tory leadership intensified as Ms Leadsom and former defence secretary Liam Fox both moved to block home secretary Theresa May’s path to Downing Street.
Ms Leadsom said she would give Britain its freedom back, while Dr Fox said leaving the single market was a price worth paying for immigration control.
Ms Leadsom urged those who backed Remain not to be “afraid” of the future as the minister insisted she was best placed to lead tough EU exit negotiations because she – unlike Remain campaigner Mrs May – believed Britain was best off “free from the grip of Brussels”.
The former businesswoman also said she knew how to overcome prejudice in a male dominated world.
In a swipe at frontrunner Mrs May, Ms Leadsom said she would not use EU citizens living in the UK as “bargaining chips” as she promised their rights should be preserved.
In a rival bid for the anti-EU vote in the Tory leadership contest, Dr Fox said immigration was key to the Brexit deal.
“I do not believe that you need to be in the single market to sell into the single market. And if the price
of the relationship with the single market is free movement of people, it’s a price I’m not willing to pay,” he said.
Dr Fox said he would pull the UK out of the European Union on January 1 2019 after triggering Article 50 to begin the process this year and ruled out both a snap general election and a second referendum.
“We cannot lose momentum and risk the derailing of the British people’s decision by stealth,” he said.
The interventions came after foreign secretary Philip Hammond hailed Mrs May’s “determination in standing up to vested interests” as he threw his support behind her campaign and warned the status of EU citizens in the UK would be a matter for negotiation.
As the race for the Tory crown stepped up a gear, Boris Johnson’s ex-campaign chief, Ben Wallace, launched a highly personalised attack on justice secretary Michael Gove.
In an article for the Daily Telegraph, the Northern Ireland Office minister said: “When I was a government whip and Michael was the chief whip, the office leaked like a sieve. Important policy and personnel details made their way to the papers. Michael seems to have an emotional need to gossip, particularly when drink is taken, as it all too often seemed to be.”
With work and pensions minister Stephen Crabb also in the running, the first round of voting among Tory MPs to decide which two candidates go to the membership in the leadership run-off begins today.
