The UK's next prime minister will be decided by a Conservative leadership contest, and Boris Johnson is the current favourite. However, that has more often than not been a curse for Tory leadership candidates in recent years.
Environment secretary Michael Gove is also one of the frontrunners in the leadership contest, and is expected to be the strongest "stop Boris" candidate.
He has good support from his fellow MPs, and barring a campaign collapse he will be in the latter stages of the leadership race.
With all the twists and turns of politics, could he end up being the next prime minister?
The Claim
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Tory MP and leader of the House of Commons Mel Stride argues that Gove is the leader to reunite a split party where someone like Johnson would only deepen divisions.
Stride believes Theresa May's replacement must be a proper Brexiteer, but one who is not so polarising as to tear the party apart. Gove ticks those boxes as a leader of the Vote Leave campaign but an opponent of no deal Brexit.
Although Johnson is the favourite at the moment, the frontrunner has traditionally fallen away in Tory leadership contests. He was favourite in 2016 before being knocked out of the running by Gove.
Many expect the wheels to fall off Johnson's campaign once again and The Independent's John Rentoul thinks it will be Gove who takes advantage when it happens, which could propel him to the front of the race.
If he can hoover up the support of Tory MPs who want to avoid leaving the EU without a deal, then Gove would be in an ideal position in the event of Johnson's campaign imploding.
The Counter Claim
However, Robert Goodwill, Gove's deputy at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said there was only one choice to lead the party at a time like this: Jeremy Hunt.
Goodwill is Gove's second in command, but doesn't think he's up to the top job - and it's always going to be a bad moment when your deputy endorses somebody else. It's also worrying for Gove that some of the support he needs to gain is going to Hunt.
Gove and Hunt are competing for support in the same areas, and people like backing a winner. One of the two is expected to be the "stop Boris" candidate, a Brexit supporting moderate that all wings of the party can tolerate. Gove cannot let Hunt take that position from him.
The final two of the leadership contest are expected to be a hard Brexit and soft Brexit option, with Johnson or Dominic Raab being the pick of the former group and either Gove or Hunt the latter's nomination.
Current polling suggests the politician with the tougher stance has a clear advantage in the public vote. Even if Gove makes it to the final two, he is predicted to lose once the matter is put to the 120,000-or-so Tory party members. He has to hope Johnson and Raab are out of the running by then or try to sink their campaigns himself.
The Facts
Gove, Hunt, Johnson and Raab would appear to be the four frontrunners in a race where the candidates are expected to thin out over the coming days. Who the dropouts decide to throw their support behind will determine who makes it down to the final two.
YouGov polling indicates that for anyone but Johnson to become prime minister he will need to be knocked out of the running before Tory members cast the final vote. He beats everyone when it comes to support from party membership.
Raab would also do well if he made it to the final two, beating everyone but Johnson. Gove is the next most popular after them, though a contest between himself and Hunt would be close with polling suggesting a tie. His Vote Leave credentials would probably give him a slight edge over Hunt, a Remainer turned Leaver.
If Michael Gove wants to become prime minister, he needs to avoid facing Boris Johnson or Dominic Raab in the final vote while also preventing Jeremy Hunt's campaign from growing significantly larger than his. He would likely need Johnson's campaign to swallow up Raab's before collapsing, taking both out of the running.
