What is good is the fact that we've got a broad selection of candidates [for Prime Minister]... to choose from, representing a diverse set of backgrounds, a diverse set of perspectives.

And it's a question of who the parliamentary party thinks is the right person to lead - not just in terms of the negotiations but also the wider 'one nation' agenda that we set out in our manifesto last year and that we were elected on.

There is definitely a mood in the party for making sure that two cabinet heavyweights we have got, who come from different traditions, different sides of the EU referendum campaign, Theresa May and Michael Gove - it would be right to put them to the party in the country.

I have said before I think it would be really good to have a woman in the final two but that's a matter for the parliamentary party.

I didn't think I was the right person to do that job but I do think Michael Gove is and that's why I'm backing him.

I think this is what we must not lose sight of, present a confident, positive and optimistic platform for our country's future in which this Party appeals to the centre ground of British politics.

Let's be honest, the fact that Michael [Gove] announced very late in the process this morning that he was going to put his name forward, showed how much he had wrestled with this.