THE Tory leadership contest descended from farce to pantomime yesterday after senior party figures cast Justice Secretary Michael Gove in the role of King Rat.

Gove, who yesterday stabbed long-term ally Boris Johnson in the back while announcing his own candidacy for the leadership, faced calls to pull out of the race — a move which many feel would leave the field wide open for Home Secretary Theresa May.

The Justice Secretary faced furious, and frequently Shakespearian, accusations of treachery from Mr Johnson’s allies after his hatchet job on his former colleague in which he claimed that the former London mayor was incapable of providing the leadership the country needed.

Veteran party big beast Ken Clarke led the calls, urging Mr Gove to withdraw from the contest.

With a potential financial crisis looming, he said, it was essential for the country to restore stable leadership as quickly as possible.

“I do think Michael Gove would do us all a favour if he were to stand down now and speed up the process,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

“One of the first priorities for a leader of a party and, certainly for a prime minister, is that you should have the trust so far as possible of your colleagues.

“It is not encouraging that he stood alongside Boris throughout the campaign as his right-hand man.

“He was publicly declared to be his manager. We don’t want to add to tragedy too much of an air of farce and for him to emerge now as a prime minister, saying ‘I’m now going to reunite the party, I now have a clear vision of what I am going to do’ is I think unlikely.”

This was a thinly veiled reference to the fact that, post referendum, Johnson, Gove et al seemed unable to suggest any coherent strategy and reneged on many of their promises, yet Mr Gove now seems to claim that he has all the answers, implying further duplicity on the part of the Justice Secretary.

The onslaught came as Mr Gove prepared to formally launch his leadership bid with a speech at Westminster setting out his plans for the premiership.

One of his leading supporters, Justice Minister Dominic Raab, hit back at Mr Clarke, a long-time Remain supporter, accusing him of trying “to knock out the strongest Brexit candidate” in the leadership race.

With Johnson’s withdrawal from the contest uber-rightwinger Home Secretary Theresa May, who avoided playing an active role in the referendum debate, is seen as the clear frontrunner.

She continued to attract more backing yesterday with declarations of support from Cabinet colleagues Michael Fallon and Patrick McLoughlin.

The focus now appears to be on the battle for second place, which will decide which of the four other candidates goes forward with her into the final ballot of grassroots party members.