Boris Johnson in Tiverton

Energy and Climate Change Minister Andrea Leadsom campaigned strongly in favor of leaving the European Union.

In a sign of that uncertainty, a leading contender to become the country’s next prime minister said he would not trigger formal EU exit talks before next year – even as senior European officials urged Britain to hurry up and go. “That’s the plan and we must set to it”. Even though she was in the pro-EU camp, she was not a fervent campaigner so she managed not to antagonize the other side.

According to the polls conducted after the referendum, Ms. May is the more likely candidate to replace David Cameron as prime minister.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told news website Spiegel Online that “what we can expect from London, and quickly, is a timetable for when exit negotiations with the European Union are supposed to begin and how the British foresee these negotiations”.

He also said that controlling immigration to Britain was a goal, which would nearly surely prevent Britain from retaining access to the duty-free single market of the bloc. Britain’s next scheduled election is in 2020.

Michael Gove has defended his 11th hour decision to run for the leadership of the Conservative Party, claiming that giving his support to Boris Johnson would have been a “betrayal” of the country as well as his own principles.

Dr Fox, the former defence secretary who campaigned for Leave, said that Mr Gove and Mr Johnson appeared to be preoccupied with the student politics of their Oxford University days.

And he said: ‘All my political career, I have been driven by conviction not ambition, by a belief in doing what’s right not what’s expedient, by wanting to pull levers that make things better, not steer to the sound of applause’.

“It’s like a posh boys’ punch up and frankly, I and millions of people around the country are rather fed up with it”.

Gove, the justice secretary, dramatically shifted expectations of the contest on Thursday when he put his name forward despite expectations that he would back Brexit campaign ally and then-favorite Boris Johnson.

Gove had been expected to back Johnson for the top job, and some Conservatives are furious at his betrayal.

Home Secretary Theresa May is favored to become party leader. Clarke said a leader needed to have “the trust, as far as possible, of your colleagues”.

“I never thought I’d ever be in this position”, he said.

The writer of House of Cards himself, Michael Dobbs, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative party, criticised the way the leadership contest was developing – comparing it to a “posh boys’ punch up”.

The first test comes on July 5 when the candidate with the least support in that vote will be eliminated, and the victor will be announced on September 9.

Meanwhile, several Cabinet ministers have already announced their support for May, who is considered a tough politician capable of standing up to European Union officials. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said “her track record shows that when Theresa arrives in Brussels, Europe’s bosses sit up and listen”.