Michael Gove joins crowded field in bitter Tory leadership race - The Yorkshire Post says

Michael Gove’s announcement yesterday that he is entering the race to succeed Theresa May guaranteed that, because it puts him on a direct collision course with the current favourite – at least amongst Tory activists – Boris Johnson.

Inevitably, there is bound to be a degree of animosity between the two principal Conservative cheerleaders for Brexit, since Mr Gove torpedoed Mr Johnson’s plans to succeed David Cameron in 2016 by branding him as not fit for the job.

And in an increasingly crowded field of candidates, with eight now declaring themselves, the contest between the two former allies is bound to be the most eye-catching and thought-provoking for the Conservative membership which will ultimately decide who gets the job.

Yet for the wider electorate, there are much more profound questions awaiting whoever becomes the next Prime Minister. Chief among them is how the political deadlock that doomed Mrs May’s premiership is to be broken.

In one sense, her departure changed nothing. Parliament effectively remains hung and the Government reliant upon DUP support. There is no majority for a no-deal Brexit, a compromise similar to Mrs May’s, or a second referendum. Labour’s ambiguity over exactly what its policy
is only adds to the uncertainty.

There is a danger that whoever wins the Tory leadership finds himself or herself as hamstrung as Mrs May. There is also a risk that the contest produces a degree of anti-EU rhetoric which will make doing a deal with Europe even more difficult.

What must be uppermost in all the candidates’ minds is that this leadership contest is not just about the Conservative Party. It is about Britain’s future prosperity and welfare.