Gove added: "One of the problems that we've had is that Parliament has engaged in endless dither and delay on this, and that's because we haven't had a strong majority."

Earlier, Gagan Mohindra was chosen as the Conservative candidate for Mr Gauke's constituency.

Mr Mohindra is a member of Essex County Council and Epping Forest District Council.

Some parties are yet to choose their candidates for South West Hertfordshire, but Tom Pashby has been selected for the Green Party and Sally Symington will represent the Liberal Democrats.

Switching sides

Mr Gauke is not the first politician to call on the public to back a rival party in the December election.

On Monday, his fellow former Tory MP Nick Boles launched a scathing attack on both Mr Johnson and Mr Corbyn in the Evening Standard,Start international flights from Chandigarh airport: Badal

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal today shot off a letter to civil aviation minister Ajit Singh asking him to "immediately" start international flights from Chandigarh airport as passengers from northern states were left with no option but to travel to Delhi.

In the letter, Badal reiterated his request to direct Air India and other Airlines to start international flights from Chandigarh.

The chief minister wrote that the air connectivity from Chandigarh has become all the more important now because of the upcoming International Airport at Mohali, which would connect the entire northern region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and even the western part of Uttar Pradesh.

For want of any international flights from Mohali and Chandigarh daily, a large number