UK prime minister

Former British finance minister Rishi Sunak said it was still "early days" in the contest to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as two opinion polls showed his rival Liz Truss had extended her lead in the race to be Britain's next leader.

British foreign minister Liz Truss, the front-runner to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, was forced to backtrack on one of her most striking pledges a day after announcing it following a backlash from fellow Conservatives and opposition parties.

Like Johnson, Churchill had a complicated relationship with the Conservatives.

Few members of the governing Conservative Party supported foreign secretary Liz Truss when the leadership contest began this month, but now there's a sense of inevitability that she will become Britain's next prime minister.

Former finance minister Sunak has denounced Truss's "fairy tale economics", vowing to tame surging inflation first, but has admitted that he is the "underdog" against the foreign secretary.

The final two candidates in the race to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson clashed on Monday in a televised debate, during which they tore into each other's tax and spending plans.

Sunak won the two previous televised debates, according to snap polls, and the second one featured a no-holds-barred clash with Truss.

Rishi Sunak will claim credit for steering Britain's economy through the COVID-19 crash but must overcome accusations that he is too rich and too willing to raise taxes to win the race to be the next prime minister.

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak and foreign secretary Liz Truss will battle it out to become Britain's next prime minister after they won the final lawmaker vote, setting up the last stage of the contest to replace Boris Johnson.

Britain's former finance minister Rishi Sunak again topped the latest vote by Conservative MPs to choose a new prime minister, as another candidate was eliminated to leave three contenders in the race.

MPs will keep voting until only two candidates remain, the winner then being decided by the party members.

A top Bank of England official pushed back on Monday at suggestions from a leading candidate to become Britain's next prime minister that the government should set a "clear direction of travel" for monetary policy.

Cutting taxes without a reduction in public spending might actually fuel inflation by stoking demand

The debate has ripped open Conservative tensions about the direction of economic and environmental policy under whoever succeeds Johnson.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will offer millions of public sector workers pay rises averaging 5% next week, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing unnamed government ministers.

British foreign minister Liz Truss clashed over tax policy with former finance minister Rishi Sunak on Friday, as the five remaining contenders to be Britain's next prime minister went head-to-head in the first of three televised debates.

Sunak, who supported Brexit during the 2016 referendum, earned millions in finance before politics, and his Indian wife Akshata Murty's father co-founded the IT giant Infosys.

Former finance minister Rishi Sunak cemented his lead over rivals to become Britain's next prime minister on Thursday in an increasingly bitter race to replace Boris Johnson.

Half a world away from the political drama in London, many Indians are closely following the twists and turns of who replaces Boris Johnson as British prime minister, curious to see how two candidates with Indian ancestry fare.

Margaret Thatcher has not been in power since 1990.

Johnson is staying on in Downing Street as prime minister until the internal party contest finds his successor. The result is due on September 5.

In the UK, the party system has emerged such that the leader of the victorious party in an election typically is invited to form a government.

Promises of tax cuts from candidates to succeed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pose another inflationary risk which could pressure the Bank of England to raise interest rates more aggressively, cancelling out any potential boost to the economy.

Nominations will officially open and close on Tuesday, with a new prime minister set to be installed when parliament returns from the summer break

As prime minister, Boris Johnson vowed to bring long-neglected post-industrial areas level with other, more prosperous places.

Johnson announced his resignation as party chief on Thursday, after a cabinet uprising over scandals culminating in his appointment of an ally with a history of sexual assault allegations to a senior role.

British former finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday he was running to replace Boris Johnson, three days after helping to launch the cascade of resignations that brought the prime minister down.

The likely months-long campaign, potentially pitting more than a dozen Conservative MPs and multiple factions of the ruling party against each another, is set to be formalised Monday.

The early favourite is former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who launched his campaign Friday after helping to kickstart the cabinet revolt that led to Johnson's forced resignation

The contest to replace British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gathered pace on Sunday as five more candidates declared their intention to run, with many pledging lower taxes and a clean start from Johnson's scandal-ridden premiership.