– ‘Brexit means Brexit’ –
Cameron, who campaigned hard for Britain to stay in the EU, has said he will leave it to his successor to start formal exit talks.
In a speech on Thursday declaring her candidacy, May insisted that “Brexit means Brexit”.
“The campaign was fought, the vote was held, turnout was high and the public gave their verdict,” she added.
The outcome triggered anger among those who wanted to remain in the EU. More than four million people have signed a petition calling for a second referendum.
Gove, the intellectual face of the “Leave” campaign, said has also said he would “not be dictated to on the timetable” and would only begin talks when it was “right for Britain”.
The five leadership candidates will be whittled down to two by a series of ballots by Conservative MPs in the coming days before being put to a vote of party members.
The winner will be announced on September 9, and will become prime minister with no need for a new election.
The power struggle between Gove and Johnson brought comparisons to Shakespearean tragedies, with one MP likening Gove’s actions to those of a murderous Macbeth.
But senior Conservative Michael Heseltine said Johnson was “like a general, that led his army to the sound of guns, and at the sight of the battlefield abandoned the field”.
He accused the former mayor of generating “the greatest constitutional crisis of modern times”.
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