'Dark dealing' does for Gove: How nods, winks and plot dealt the man Boris ...

The alcoves and recesses of the Palace of Westminster are built for plotting.

And early yesterday, as MPs arrived for the final two rounds in the Conservative leadership contest, the air was thick with conspiracy.

Certainly Team Michael Gove feared a plot was afoot, after a newspaper report that Boris Johnson's camp wanted Mr Gove 'humiliated' in revenge for turning on their man in 2016. Back then, one Johnson ally said there was 'a special place in hell' reserved for Mr Gove. They hadn't forgotten.

Yesterday, almost in anticipation, Gove supporters went on the offensive from the off, with one accusing Boris of wanting to 'gerrymander' the result.

The theory was straightforward. Boris would prefer the run-off to be against Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who backed Remain in 2016, rather than Mr Gove, a fierce intellectual who has impeccable Brexiteer credentials. Indeeed in private, Team Gove believe the vote has been rigged all week.

They muttered darkly that Rory Stewart's numbers were inflated to remove Dominic Raab, another Brexiteer threat to Boris, and Sajid Javid's vote was pushed up to keep him in the race and stop his supporters going to Mr Gove.

All fingers pointed at one man: Gavin Williamson, the former chief whip and Defence Secretary who seemed to revel in his reputation for Machiavellian dark arts.

There was another issue raising paranoia levels yesterday: the large number of proxy votes. Around ninety Tory MPs were not physically in the Commons.

Some were enjoying the Ascot races, others were in constituencies and nominated someone else to cast votes on their behalf. Apart from their proxy, no-one, not even the MPs themselves, would know where the vote had gone.

In plotting hands, this could be a powerful weapon. One senior campaign source warned: 'It is always a good idea to trust someone whose interests align with your own.'

After seeing his vote collapse on Wednesday, Mr Stewart accused the Boris camp of sharp practice, saying 'five or ten proxy votes' had been lent to other campaigns.

Team Boris issued fervent denials, and insisted they just wanted to maximise their vote. One Boris supporter claimed Mr Stewart was bitter after his support 'on Twitter' didn't translate into results, saying: 'The truth hurts.'

Asked outside the voting room whether he knew anything about 'dark arts' Mr Johnson insisted: 'No.' When the first result came, at 1pm, it was good news for Mr Gove. Mr Johnson marched on to 157 – more than half the Tory parliamentary party – but Mr Gove had picked up ten votes, and was now two ahead of Mr Hunt.

Meanwhile Mr Javid was eliminated. Had the anti-Gove plot failed? Within minutes the Gove and Hunt camps were at each other's throats.

A Hunt source issued a warning about the final round being dominated by the 'personal psychodrama' of Boris vs Gove.

Gove supporters desperately tried to neutralise the accusation, promising a 'civilised debate'.

They also sought to 'peel off' Mr Johnson's Brexiteers.

Gove campaign manager Mel Stride texted several MPs saying Mr Johnson was 'secure in the final run off' and they should consider backing Mr Gove so 'we can have two Brexiteers in the final'. Where would Javid's 34 votes go? 

One Johnson supporter told the Mail, with a twinkle in his eye: 'We're not telling people to vote for Jeremy but if people feel inclined to go that way, what's to stop them?'

Team Boris had good reason to be confident about their numbers holding up. For in a remarkable feat of organisation, they had successfully predicted exactly how many votes their man would get in two of the initial counts. The person running Mr Johnson's 'book' of supporters was Grant Shapps, the former Tory chairman cast into the wilderness by Theresa May and later accused of over a botched plot to oust her.

His Excel spreadsheet contained thousands of entries. Down one side were the names of all 313 Tory MPs and across pages and pages of data about them – personal biography, policy interests, political affiliations and records of whether they had met Mr Johnson, or spoken on the phone to him.

He also recorded which MPs were apparently backing his man. But how to tell which were telling the truth? Early in the contest, Mr Johnson had a core of trusted supporters who were sent out to gather information. Without always revealing who they were backing, they would ask MPs who they were voting for. By the end this army of 'handlers' grew to 70.

Friends of Mr Shapps said he had spent his time on the backbenches reading up on former US president Lyndon Johnson. LBJ said the first rule of politics was to 'learn how to count'. It was a lesson Mr Johnson, and his team, learned well.

By yesterday, it meant Team Boris had a trove of information on every MP, and a good idea about how the votes would play out.

When the result came in at 6pm, Mr Hunt had beaten Mr Gove into second place by just two votes. Mr Gove issued a gracious concession message and congratulated the two winners. But his supporters screamed 'carve up'.

'If you are that far ahead you get to name your opponent. They knew which candidate they wanted in the final,' said one. Beforehand, Mr Gove's campaign estimated – correctly – that around a third of Javid votes would go their way, and the rest would go to Boris.

The final piece of evidence, which is hard to explain other than by vote lending, is that Mr Johnson's total increased by four between the two rounds, fewer than the number of MPs who said publicly they would support him. A Johnson source insisted the claims were 'nonsense'. But seasoned observers will suspect otherwise.

Trade Secretary (and Hunt backer) Dr Liam Fox smiled: 'I'm sure it's not organised. Perish the thought!'. 

The Environment Secretary, whose campaign at one stage looked to be fatally damaged by his cocaine admission, had dramatically leapfrogged ahead of Mr Hunt in the fourth ballot earlier today.

But the Foreign Secretary managed to claw his way back to secure a place in the head-to-head by just two votes this evening, amid claims that he might have been 'loaned' backers by Mr Johnson to settle old scores.

Many of Mr Johnson's acolytes have never forgiven Mr Gove for betraying him in the 2016 leadership contest, when he pulled his support at the last second and launched his own abortive bid. 

There were gasps as the incredibly close result of the fifth ballot was announced in committee room 14 in Parliament this evening, with the front runner securing 160 votes, Mr Hunt 77 and Mr Gove 75. 

The figures immediately fuelled rampant speculation about tactical voting, as Mr Johnson only increased his tally by three votes between the final rounds. 

After Sajid Javid was eliminated this afternoon, at least four of his 34 supporters publicly declared they were going to back the favourite. 

Mr Javid himself was also thought to have been ready to line up behind Mr Johnson - potentially in return for getting the plum post of Chancellor. 

In contrast to Mr Johnson's paltry haul in the final ballot, Mr Hunt gained 18 backers, and Mr Gove 14. 

Mr Johnson's allies had been accused of plotting an 'Oxford Union knifing' and the political equivalent of 'revenge porn' as they tried to stop Mr Gove getting into the run off.

At least four Javid supporters - Chris Skidmore, Kevin Foster, Chris Philp and Mike Wood - had publicly announced they were switching to the Johnson camp after their candidate was kicked out this afternoon. 

Mr Gove put a brave face on the crushing disappointment tonight, tweeting: 'Naturally disappointed but so proud of the campaign we ran. Huge thanks to my brilliant campaign team. 

'It's been an honour to be able to set out a vision for the future of our great country. Many congratulations to Boris and Jeremy!'

Mr Johnson said he was 'deeply honoured' to have secured endorsements from more than 50 per cent of Tory MPs.

Mr Hunt said Mr Gove was still one of the 'brightest stars in the Conservative team'.

'I'm the underdog - but in politics surprises happen as they did today,' he added. 'I do not doubt the responsibility on my shoulders - to show my party how we deliver Brexit and not an election, but also a turbo-charged economy and a country that walks tall in the world.'

Mr Javid said his party will need Mr Gove 'more than ever to face the challenges ahead' after the Environment Secretary was knocked out of the Tory leadership contest in the fifth round of voting. 

The hopefuls were quickly looking to the next phase of the contest, with ITV announcing the first head-to-head televised debate on July 9. Mr Johnson said he had agreed to take part.

Mr Gove's campaign manager Mel Stride declined to say that the vote had been rigged, but admitted the revelations about Mr Gove's cocaine use two decades ago had damaged his leadership bid.

He said: 'It stalled us and meant momentum was lost at that time.' 

MPs were anxious about the prospect of continuing the long-running struggle between Mr Johnson and Mr Gove - whose rivalry stretches back to when they were at Oxford together. 

Pitting them against each other in a month-long contest for votes from Tory members could see blue-on-blue attacks plunge to new depths.  

Sources close to Mr Hunt tried to play on the fears earlier as he tried to reclaim the advantage, warning: 'Boris and Michael are great candidates but we have seen their personal psychodrama before.

'It's time to offer the country someone the EU will actually talk to.' 

The allegations of skulduggery risk pouring petrol on the simmering civil war that has been threatening to rip the Tories to pieces.  

Rory Stewart, who was knocked out last night, has blamed 'dark arts' for his demise - with claims Johnson's allies propped him up with votes to ensure rival Dominic Raab was evicted, before pulling their backing.

Cabinet minister Amber Rudd, who is campaigning for Mr Hunt, this morning urged Mr Johnson to condemn the 'game playing' by his fans. 

But asked as he went in to vote today whether he knew anything about the 'dark arts', Mr Johnson merely smiled and said: 'No.' He refused to say whether he had voted for himself. 

One Tory MP told MailOnline Mr Johnson's supporters were 'taking the p***' and their 'arrogance' was alienating the wider party.

'This is Oxford Union knifing. This is revenge porn. This is season two of some peculiarly bleak Nordic noir, where you don't know in the final episode whether they are going to f*** each other or throttle each other,' they said.  

Mr Hunt also ramped up his rhetoric against the front runner, urging his colleagues to recognise the party 'can do better than Boris'.  

And underlining the warnings about the 'psychodrama' between the other candidates, he said: 'Critical decision now for all colleagues is what choice do we present to the country? And what future? 

'Choose me for unity over division, and I will put Boris through his paces and then bring our party and country back together.' 

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