Tom Tugendhat came out for Gove last night, which is the final sign, if a sign was needed, that Gove is definitely running. Gove’s parliamentary office was reportedly a hive of activity yesterday with MPs coming and going all day. He has been arguing heavily behind closed doors against the Government bringing in the WAB – warning that another triple-digit defeat would make it much harder for a deal to go through under May’s successor. Who could he be thinking of…

It appears the ever energetic Gove has two pitches to the MPs who come into his office. To those Gove believes are sympathetic to his merits he stresses his competence in driving change and innovative approach to policy. To those MPs he suspects are not fans his case is more utilitarian…

Gove implies his ambition is only to steady the Tory ship, get Brexit over the line and then dutifully make way for a more voter-friendly candidate to smash Corbyn in a future general election. Terms and conditions may apply…