‘I’m in it to win it’: Michael Gove insists he can still triumph in Tory leadership contest, despite row over cocaine use

Environment secretary tries to keep campaign alive as he takes aim at Boris Johnson, saying next prime minister cannot be someone who ‘hides in their bunker’

Michael Gove has insisted he can still win the race to succeed Theresa May as prime minister, despite his hopes hanging by a thread following revelations about his use of cocaine.

The environment secretary said he was “in it to win it” and claimed he should not be counted out of the contest, after his prospects were significantly damaged by an admission that he had used the class A drug “on several occasions” around 20 years ago.

Some senior Tories, including Baroness Warsi, the former Conservative Party chair, have called on Mr Gove to withdraw from the race.

But speaking at the launch of his campaign in central London, Mr Gove dismissed suggestions that he should quit.

He said: “I’m in it to win it. I’ve been told in the past that I couldn’t succeed. I was told when I led the Leave campaign, ‘You’re only at 33 per cent in the polls – you guys will tank, you’ll lose by a landslide’, and we won.

“I was told when I was education secretary, ‘You’ll never be able to transform education in this country – it’s eluded every education secretary before you’, but we changed it.

“I was told when I arrived at the Department for the Environment, ‘It’s an impossible task to please all of these people – you will either end up upsetting business or losing the trust of green groups’, but actually we were able to bring business and green groups together.

“Every time I’ve been given a job, I’ve been told it’s impossible and have delivered.”

Mr Gove said he was “sure” he would make it to the final two candidates, where he is likely to face Boris Johnson in a ballot of Conservative members.

He joked that, in this scenario, he would urge the former foreign secretary not to withdraw from the contest, as Mr Johnson did in 2016 after Mr Gove withdrew his support for him.

He said: “This is what I would say to him: Mr Johnson, whatever you do, don’t pull out. I know you have before and I know you may not believe in your heart that you can do it, but the Conservative Party membership deserve a choice, so let’s have a proper race.”

He appeared to twist the knife into Mr Johnson further by arguing that the Conservatives should not elect a leader who will “hide in their bunker”. The former foreign secretary has been criticised in recent days for his lack of visibility during the contest, having so far conducted only one major interview and held no public events.

Mr Gove said: “It’s not enough for the next leader to have ideas. These are serious times – we need a serious leader. The stakes couldn’t be higher, the consequences couldn’t be greater if we get this wrong.

“I don’t want us to have a situation where we have Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street, propped up by Nicola Sturgeon, breaking up our United Kingdom, inflicting Marxist economics on this nation and blighting our children’s future.

“That is why at this time we need someone who has been tested in the heat of battle, someone who is prepared to go under the studio arc lights to make the case for conservativism, someone who will take on Jeremy Corbyn at the despatch box, not hide in their bunker.”