Shock exit from Boris!

Actually it's probably for the best. Can't stand Gove but feel he might just be the better man to get things done.

Gove always looks like a 1950's schoolboy who needs to grow into his uniform.

Perhaps he is thinking of standing as a candidate to lead the labour party. they need a leader with presence, I won't say charisma, because that is not exactly what Boris has. Labour probably deserve him.

It is good that Boris worked out that he is not up to the job. As for Gove - no thank you! I am still angry that DC stepped down when he had said all along that whatever happened he would stay and provide continuity. Rat!

But let us not dismiss Theresa May - I feel able to take her seriously, when Gove is just a joke. When I look at what he did to education - just pushing through made-up ideas with no evidence behind them. We can't have that at the top.

There are suspicions across Westminster that George Osborne and David Cameron's ambitions to stop Boris Johnson are behind this.

Interesting that you say it is "democracy at work" Bags. I was online to my brother in the US yesterday and he asked what we were thinking of, leaving the EU with only 37.4% voting in favour. He later, in reply to a FB post said:

As I wrote to you this morning, the 52:48 is somewhat meaningless in a number of contexts, though it provides an answer. I saw that the difference was 1.2 m votes. which means that approx 30m voted; the 52% represent 37.4% of those eligible to vote; they represent 28.9% of the population. So, given the democratic process, less than 30% of the population have taken the country in a new direction. Very interesting. The figures are approximate, but are within statistical error!!!!

It was Gove who said we shouldn't listen to experts, then he said we need to line up experts to advise on Brexit!!. I listened to Boris' speech, it was obviously written before today to declare his intention of running, then he just tagged the punch line, "but its not me.". at the end. Et tu Brute springs to mind, surprised Boris didn't use that line. All very Shakespearean.

OH told me news in car. Replied 'conspiracy theory' he went on to say Boris made an unusually serious and creditable speech just after the results. I replied 'Gove wrote it'.

The dentist told me this news when I had my mouth full of stuff, and I could only respond with my eyes!

Was it the plan from the start? Let BJ seem to be out in front, then overtake on the inside. I'm pleased because I believe BJ would have been an embarrassment. I actually agree with Mr Gove, which is rare. BJ doesn't have the skills to pull everyone together and work as a team. He says the weirdest things sometimes and he's a proven liar.

Question Time should be lively tonight!

Well!! DH and I joined the Tory Party so we could vote for anyone but Boris - he must have heard.

Ginny42 we can only imagine your 'gnaar' of astonishment. Why do dentists do that?!

I think that Boris did hope to be chosen as the next PM, but the way things have worked out he found that he did not have enough backing, as you need a certain percent of MP's behind you.I think that Theresa May will be chosen, and in my opinion, a good choice.Gove and Boris will be in the shadow cabinet [unless Boris leaves politics].Now, all we need is for Corbyn to resign and somebody more like a Leader take over, and we are all set.

Why do I keep thinking of the last scene from Black Adder when they all went over the top?

I agree roses. Fingers crossed for Mrs May and a statesman like team to back her. I also hope that Labour can sort themselves out and go back to being an effective opposition.

Ha ha Kitty so did we, but now it's to keep Gove out.

Pity it wasn't only £3 like the Labour Party membership!

Heseltine has just ripped into Boris:

Lord Heseltine told BBC Radio Five Live: "I have never seen anything like it. He's ripped the Tory party apart, he has created the greatest constitutional crisis in peacetime in my life.

"He's knocked billions off his value of the savings of the British people. He's like a general who marches his army to the sound of the guns and the moment he sees the battleground he abandons it.

"I have never seen anything like it and he must be answerable for the consequences. But the pain of it will be felt by all of us and, if it doesn't get resolved shortly, by a generation yet to come."

too kind by half

Tegan has it right. It was Cameron wot dun it, by resigning before invoking Article 50 he ensured the next leader will have to carry the can with impossible negotiations. So Boris backs out, no surprise. Actually, I think Teresa May as a Remain supporter, is the only possible leader, but it isn't my party, so what do I know? :-)

It's mine and DH's now! I agree, we will keep Gove out instead, but I'm not a big fan of Andrea Leadsome or Crabbe. Looks like Theresa May.

Theresa May would be our choice, Ok, she was for remain, but seem committed to the ref, decision.

I'm certainly no expert on the machinations of the Tory party but this is my prediction for what it's worth.

The MP's will narrow it down to Theresa May and a Brexiter. I think the Brexiter will be Liam Fox, not ghastly Gove, or that Leadsom woman who does a very unconvincing Thatcher impersonation, but Liam Fox who speaks with a charming Scottish accent but is to the right of Genghis Khan.

I predict Theresa will win hands down. That's my prediction. I'm no expert on the Tory party but experts! what do they know?

He might speak with a charming Scottish accent (so does Gove) but he's a fraudster and disgraced former Cabinet minister.

Zoe William's (in the Guardian) The surprise departure of Boris Johnson slightly diminishes the case for Theresa May, since her qualities – maturity, responsibility, the safety of a person who at least has some regard for the truth – were much more pronounced set against his lack of them. Nicky Morgan would have been a good opponent, since she underlines how sober and imperturbable May is, the calming effect she has by not looking constantly astonished. Yet May still benefits from comparison with the other – against Michael Gove, she looks normal. Against Stephen Crabb, she looks like a household name. Next to Andrea Leadsom, she looks charismatic. And against Liam Fox, she looks like a moderate – Fox representing a co-option of Farage-speak, with its new dawns and its splenetic authoritarianism. (Fox is anti-abortion, by the way; not that it seems to matter in the chaos, but it would.)

Boris Johnston, IMO, is just a coward. He gets us into this mess and then chickens out. He's said to be an adulterer, but I don't see how that can be, as he obviously has no b****. Michael Gove is a snake, and his "charming" Scottish accent comes and goes, if you notice, depending whom he is trying to impress. Liam Fox is, as you say, daphnedill is disgraced. Theresa May wants to increase surveillance on us all, but she does seem to be honest, as far as one can tell. I despair.

And Crabb thinks that homosexuality 'can be cured'.