Gove gets the silent treatment after ex-buddy BoJo fails to answer any of his calls

MICHAEL Gove’s revealed yesterday how desperate attempts to patch up his friendship with Boris Johnson have been met with an angry wall of silence.

The Tory leadership hopeful, who scuppered his Brexit pal’s dream of becoming PM, has repeatedly tried phoning him.

But his calls have gone unanswered, prompting fears BoJo is giving him the cold shoulder.

Mr Gove has tried several times to make contact since he stabbed him in the back and launched his own bid for the top job three days ago.

He told The Sun on Sunday: “I’m keen to talk to Boris. I’ve been trying to ring him. I want to explain to him why I felt I had to do what I did.

“I tried to ring him on Thursday morning when I decided to run but he didn’t pick up the call and I’ve been unable to speak to him since.”

BoJo’s pals say he is devastated by his comrade’s treachery, which he has branded an “assassination”.

But Mr Gove rebuffed suggestions that he had planned all along to knife the leadership favourite.

He says he became alarmed by the shambolic nature of the former London Mayor’s preparation for power and decided he had to step in.

In an exclusive interview, Mr Gove said he is the only candidate able to reunite the Tories in the wake of the Brexit battle.

Win or lose, he vowed to be a team player and said he would “forgive and forget” attacks on him over the past few days.

Mr Gove reveals a wave of chaotic incidents and errors by Boris in the hours before the launch convinced him he could not be a serious contender.

He says he had thrown his full support behind the Brexit champ’s leadership bid.

Mr Gove added: “Boris was inspirational during the referendum campaign.

“He has amazing abilities and talents in so many areas. But I grew to realise he was not capable of doing that top job.

“I knew he’d been thinking about this moment and I hoped he’d make the transition from being part of a campaigning team to the leader of that team.

";I was working night and day right up to Wednesday evening trying to persuade people to support Boris.

“I remember talking to a new MP and making the case to her about why she should back Boris.

“My team was sending out tweets reminding people about his launch next morning.”

But it was at the Conservative summer ball that evening that “various things fell into place” about Mr Johnson’s competence.

One blunder was the failure to deliver a letter — and post a tweet — welcoming Andrea Leadsom to his inner-circle.

That led to the Energy Minister launching her own leadership bid.

Mr Gove said: “There were a number of occasions where I thought that Boris isn’t making the right calls to provide the leadership and to build the team that we need.

“A couple of things happened and very late that night I came to the conclusion that Boris was incapable of the highest office.

“Doubts grew on the way back from the party. Various things happened and I went to bed thinking I’d run.

“When I woke I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that’s what I had to do.”

Mr Gove, married to journalist Sarah Vine, said: “I discussed it with my wife and that was it. I tried to ring Boris that morning in order to speak to him and have not spoken to him since.”

Eventually the Justice Minister, now one of five Tories vying for the leadership, had to pass on a message to Mr Johnson via an aide.

He added: “I inevitably thought this was not going to be news that he’d welcome.

“But I didn’t anticipate that he’d drop out. I expected him to carry on and say, ‘I’ll now prove I have the qualities that Michael says I don’t have’. I was as stunned as anybody when he pulled out.”

Mr Gove says he concluded that he himself was the only person with the three qualities essential to be a post-Brexit PM — experience, leadership skills and full commitment to quitting the EU.

He claimed Mr Johnson was lacking in the first two, and that none of the other candidates — Home Secretary Theresa May, Andrea, Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb — possess all three qualities.

Mr Gove said: “If we had somebody else who had all the criteria then I might not have done it. We have to have somebody in this race who believes in Brexit and who argued for it.

“It has to be somebody who is a Cabinet minister and has the experience of negotiating at the top table.

“And we need somebody with leadership skills.”

Mr Gove believes favourite Mrs May’s Remain position disqualifies her from being PM.

He added: “I’m running purely because I think it’s better if we have somebody who argued for Brexit, believes in it but also has the experience and commitment to deliver.”

Mr Gove is shocked by the anger among Tory MPs over his “disgraceful betrayal”.

But he said: “Nobody’s sent me any abusive texts. I haven’t read all my emails, so the odd one might have slipped in.”

Mr Gove scoffed at suggestions he was part of a kamikaze plot to topple BoJo in revenge for toppling David Cameron.

He said: “The idea that I planned this is for the birds. I made a judgment. It’s as simple as that. All this talk that I am some kind of political suicide bomber who sacrificed my own career to take out Boris is nonsense.”

Mr Gove said pressing ahead with Brexit and cutting immigration will be top priorities if he succeeds Mr Cameron as PM.

But he promised to be a champion of fairness and to fight for the low-paid.

He said: “The Referendum was won by working people, typical Sun on Sunday readers. I want to improve schools, fight crime and improve life for working people on average and below average wages.

“There are lots of people who are not benefiting as they should from the economic recovery.

“One of the reasons I am running in this race is to stand up for them — in both making sure the Referendum result they voted for is delivered and they get a fairer deal from society. I will stand up for fairness.”

“If I win and become PM I will bear no rancour to anyone for anything that they have said or done. I will be captain of a team.

“If another candidate wins, then if they want me in their team, I’ll happily be in it.

“But if they decide to rest me for a bit, then I’ll cheer them on from the sidelines.”

GOVE'S DISC IS A WISE CHOICE

WANNABE PM Michael Gove will spearhead his leadership bid with the song Bring Me Sunshine.

He revealed the Morecambe and Wise classic would be among his eight favourite records if he was on Desert Island Discs – even though he has turned down an invite to the Radio 4 show.

Aberdeen-bred Mr Gove would also pick I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers.

Rival Theresa May picked Frankie Valli’s Walk Like a Man when she appeared on the show in 2014.