Michael Gove: It was a mistake to run for Prime Minister

Michael Gove has told Sky News it "was a mistake" for him to run for Prime Minister after dropping his backing for Boris Johnson.

The former justice secretary admitted he was wrong to have made a bid for the top job and to give a speech saying he was the "best person" to run the country in the aftermath of the UK's vote to leave the European Union.

Asked by Sky's Adam Boulton if he thought it was his "biggest mistake" to think he could be PM given more Conservatives supported Andrea Leadsom and that he eventually came third out of five candidates, he said: "It was a mistake wasn't it."

He added: "Overall it was a mistake."

While Mr Gove has previously said he made mistakes in the way he handled his bid for leadership, he had not gone as far as admitting it was a mistake to run altogether.

Mr Gove refused to go as far as saying he "betrayed" Boris Johnson by dropping his support and mounting his own leadership campaign, a move that sparked claims he had stabbed his Vote Leave colleague in the back.

He said: "I made a mistake - I should either have paused before supporting Boris in the way that I did, or - having decided to support Boris, I should have stuck with it.

"And the final thing that I've said is that having made that decision, not to support him but to run myself, I should probably have presented my case in a different way than the way that I did.

"But in the end a verdict was passed, a very clear verdict, by my parliamentary colleagues, some of whom were good enough to vote for me but the majority of whom voted for Theresa."

Mr Gove said that ultimately Mr Johnson had ended up as Foreign Secretary, a role where he could guide Brexit, and he had ended up as a backbencher.

But added: "I am very happy that Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. I think he is a very talented figure."

However, Mr Gove was on Wednesday selected to sit on the powerful Brexit select committee that is headed by Labour's former shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn.

In his interview with Boulton on All Out Politics, Mr Gove said he thought Mrs May was doing a good job and that he had been on the right side of the argument.

He said he was concerned that those on the "losing side" were not accepting the result of the referendum with "good grace".

Mr Gove added that people had used the word "hard Brexit" to make "liberation sound like a punishment."

And he said he would continue his work to make sure the public get what they voted for on Brexit.