Conservative leadership election: MP's tweets in support of Michael Gove are deleted

Westminster's harsh realities were laid bare today as supportive tweets written by an MP formerly backing Michael Gove for the Tory leadership were erased.

A web page recording tweets deleted from MPs’ accounts showed one by Daniel Kawczynski linking to an article entitled “Reasons why I am supporting Michael Gove to be our next PM” was wiped out.

Other tweets in which the MP shared other people’s supportive posts were also deleted.

Mr Gove crashed out of the contest after securing the votes of just 46 MPs.

Mr Kawczynski’s Twitter page today shows he has switched allegiance to Theresa May, along with other Gove backers.

Mrs May will now take on Brexit backer Andrea Leadsom in a ballot of Conservative Party members.