Britain's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Michael Gove | Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images Don’t make best Brexit the enemy of the good, says Michael Gove Environment secretary and leading Leave campaigner says rejecting deal risks a softer Brexit, no Brexit or no deal.

If MPs vote down Theresa May's Brexit deal then the U.K. enters "dangerous waters," U.K. Environment Secretary Michael Gove warned in the Daily Mail today.

Gove, who was a prominent Leave campaigner ,acknowledged that the deal is not what many Brexiteers wanted. "Is it perfect? Far from it. Does it deliver 100 per cent of what I wanted? No. But then we didn’t win 100 per cent of the vote on June 23 2016," he said.

But he told MPs, "we must not make the best the enemy of the good."

"Indeed, if we don’t accept this deal, I believe we enter dangerous waters. We risk a softer Brexit, no Brexit at all, or no deal," he said. Downing Street will hope that, as a prominent Leave campaigner, Gove's advocacy will help bring backbench Brexiteers onside. Currently over 100 Tory MPs have said they won't back the deal.

Gove argued that, despite having reservations about the Northern Ireland backstop — which is designed to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland if no other solution can be found — it would not be in the EU's interests to keep Britain in it long-term because it offers some of the benefits of membership.

"The longer the backstop lasts, the more difficult it will be for Europe. Far from it suiting their interests to keep the backstop going, they will be keen to avoid it and conclude a durable free-trade deal," he said.

The environment secretary also hinted he may be open to a softer Norway-style agreement if May's deal is defeated. Norway's arrangement is "better than EU membership, but worse than this deal," he said.