Boris Johnson's decision to quit the race for the Tory crown shows he was never leadership material, Justice Secretary Michael Gove has insisted.

Defending his surprise move to abandon Mr Johnson's campaign team and stand for the leadership himself, Mr Gove said the ex-London mayor's response proved he was right to do so.

"I thought that he would want to prove that my doubts were doubts that no-one else should have - as you would expect a leader to do. He had the opportunity to demonstrate that I was wrong. He chose not to go ahead," Mr Gove told The Spectator.

The Justice Secretary insisted it was a difficult decision to turn his back on Mr Johnson.

"I tried very, very hard to make it work. But I was faced with a dilemma at the eleventh hour. I could go ahead, swallow my doubts - which had built up over four or five days - and recommend that Boris should be our next prime minister. Or I could acknowledge that I didn't think I could make that recommendation, and face the consequences," Mr Gove said.

The Cabinet heavyweight insisted he did not want to be like others who helped put prime ministers into Downing Street that they did not have complete faith in.

"If you ask the people who acquiesced in those things whether they regret it, I'm sure they will say they do. I was not prepared to think that I had the opportunity to say 'I don't believe that this man is right or ready' and that I ducked that," he said.

Mr Gove insisted the incident proved he could be trusted, despite some MPs accusing him of stabbing Mr Johnson in the back.

"I think the reason people can trust me is that I will always be intellectually honest. I think that is the most important thing for anyone in public service," he said.

The Justice Secretary insisted an email from his wife, Sarah Vine, urging him to get tough with Mr Johnson, was not deliberately leaked.

Asked if it was normal for his wife to email him instructions, Mr Gove said: "Yes! Normally it's 'pick up the kids, make sure you've got the right key for the car' and so on. I'm just amazingly lucky to have the best wife in the world. She's my best friend as well as my wife, and best friends give each other advice."

Mr Gove strongly criticised Home Secretary Theresa May's refusal to guarantee the status of EU citizens in the UK, saying: "The whole point about Britain leaving the EU is that we're not rejecting individuals, we're not rejecting Europe, we're simply saying that a bureaucratic structure that has denied us our own laws has to go."