Ha, we all thought, what a dolt that Sarah Vine is, accidentally leaking internal plots for the Tory leadership.
Just the classic, ditzy housewife behaviour she is constantly owning up to in her Daily Mail columns.
Here's the text of the leaked Sarah Vine email: https://t.co/0iXoqFnO2O pic.twitter.com/LBdv5kfpXt
— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) June 29, 2016
News this morning that Michael Gove has betrayed Boris Johnson and is taking a tilt at the Tory leadership himself changes all that.
Wow. Michael Gove to run for leadership – "Boris cannot provide the leadership or build the team for the task ahead" pic.twitter.com/ZgYqVif5ed
— Sophy Ridge (@SophyRidgeSky) June 30, 2016
What if the email leak was a sounding device? Vine’s email flashed some leg to the media and the voting public about potential splits in Boris’s maneuverings.
Crucially, every Tory MP would have seen it as well. At the moment it is they, not the commentariat or media who need to be persuaded.
A tranche of MPs defected this morning along with Gove, hinting that this coup was planned reasonably far in advance.
And with news that Andrea Leadsom is also running for leader under a full-tilt Brexit ticket, every scrap of support is increasingly important.
Delighted to say I'm running for the @Conservatives Leadership.
Let's make the most of the Brexit opportunities!#FreshStart
— Andrea Leadsom MP (@andrealeadsom) June 30, 2016
Depending on who falls in line behind Gove, and who behind Boris, the former mayor of London could be left without the critical mass to get on the ballot.
The truism that Tories have an almost supernatural ability to knife a frontrunner is proving to have plenty of mileage in it yet.
The end game of Gove’s play is still pretty opaque. Who benefits?
Provided Theresa May’s support doesn’t collapse, it seems she will make the final two with ease.
Which makes it potential a five-way scrap between Boris, Gove, Leadsom and Liam Fox, who is reportedly going to enter as well.
To repeat a hackneyed Tory leadership metaphor, the ball is truly loose from the scrum now – and could be anybody’s for the taking.
