Michael Gove has thrown his support behind Kemi Badenoch in the Conservative Party leadership race.
The former levelling up secretary – who was dramatically sacked by Boris Johnson last week – praised Badenoch for a “no-bulls**t” approach.
Writing in The Sun, he said: “Kemi doesn’t just win the argument, she delivers – on getting the Whitehall machine to embark on new policies and on levelling up Britain.”
Gove said: “she has the opportunity to use her first class brain to fix the big problems facing our country.”
He added: “As a Tory leader, she would be Sir Keir Starmer’s worst nightmare.”
Badenoch, 42, has long been seen as a rising star in the party and has focused on culture war issues as part of her pitch.
The former equalities minister resigned from Johnson’s government last week as Tory MPs moved to oust the PM.
There are now 11 Tories in the running to replace Johnson as prime minister.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, launched her candidacy on Sunday evening and is seen as a frontrunner.
Other contenders include former health secretaries Sajid Javid and Jeremy Hunt, ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, his successor Nadhim Zahawi, transport secretary Grant Shapps and trade minister Penny Mordaunt.
Senior backbencher Tom Tugendhat and newly appointed Foreign Office minister Rehman Chishti and attorney general Suella Braverman are also in the race.