ISLE of Wight MP Bob Seely has ditched his support of Michael Gove in the Tory leadership race and moved to back frontrunner Boris Johnson.

Mr Seely was quick to throw his weight behind Gove, Tweeting his support for the environment secretary on the same day Theresa May announced her resignation.

He said: "Our next leader has to: renew in office, lead in parliament and strengthen the union — all whilst delivering Brexit.

"For me, Michael Gove is the person who'll be best able to achieve this, that's why I am supporting him as leader of the Conservatives and the next PM."

However, Mr Seely has now withdrawn his support for Gove and backed Johnson.

In the second ballot of Conservative MPs, Johnson came out on top, with Gove in third place, with less than a third of the votes Johnson secured. Dominic Raab was knocked out of the race.

There will be up to three further ballots, where the lowest-ranked candidate will be knocked out, until there are only two left.

The winner will be selected by a postal vote of the 160,000 Conservative party members, beginning on June 22, with the winner announced around a month later.

Mr Seely told the County Press that for him, it had always been a close run thing between Gove and Johnson.

He said: "Probably in the end, what it came down to was that we need to draw a line under Brexit as soon as possible.

"Islanders, just like everyone else, want us to just get on with it.

"Boris has got an exciting national manifesto for our country."

Johnson has refused to rule out a no deal Brexit and supports an October deadline for leaving the EU.

Gove has not promised to leave the EU by October and has said he would run as a "unity candidate", suggesting he would push for a deal.