MICHAEL Gove has declared he has the “cool head and burning heart” to lead Britain out of the EU.

After he revealed he would contest the Tory leadership to be the next Prime Minister, knocking Boris Johnson out of the race he set his sights on main rival Theresa May.

The Justice Secretary launched his campaign with a call to MPs and party members to elect a leave campaigner as the best person for the task ahead.

He said: "I will ensure we honour the instructions the British people have given us.

"I argued for specific changes in the referendum campaign, I believe in them, I will deliver them.”

As Scotland’s first Minister Nicola Sturgeon seeks to find a way for Scotland to remain in the EU, Mr Gove said he would "renew and reboot" the Union between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

He faces Ms May, Leave campaigner Andrea Leadsom, former Defence Secretary, Liam Fox and Work and Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb.

Mr Fox criticised the drama that saw Boris Johnson forced to step aside as juvenile and said politics needed “grown-ups”.

He said: “"We are now 10 weeks away from having a new prime minister, we're in the process of electing a prime minister who will actually take us out of the European Union, and yet we seem to be permanently distracted by what can only be described as the politics of the Oxford Union in recent days.”

He also ruled out a snap General Election should he take over From David Cameron later this year and would stick to the 2020 timetable.

He said: "Whoever becomes Prime Minister needs that period in order to negotiate our orderly and calm exit from the European Union and to prepare us for the challenges ahead.”