Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the two finalists in the race to succeed Boris Johnson as the Conservative Party leader and British prime minister, were grilled on their policies in the first hustings directly addressing Tory party members who will be voting in the election.
Akshata Murty delivers a four-minute speech introducing her husband Rishi Sunak to the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
Rishi Sunak, one of the finalists in the race to succeed Boris Johnson as leader of the Conservative party and Britain's prime minister, is campaigning hard to win over the Tory faithful who will vote from today, July 28, to August 31 to elect their next leader.
Johnson now expressed his willingness to enter the PM race, saying he is "up for it."
The poll found that among those who voted for the Conservatives at the last election, 62 per cent said that party members had made the wrong choice when the race was shortlisted between Truss and Sunak.
With Rishi Sunak now firmly placed as the candidate to beat, the battle lines are drawn for second place in the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and British prime minister, with the remaining five contenders set for their first public clash on Friday.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday finally agreed to step down as Conservative Party leader, triggering a leadership election for a new Tory leader who will go on to become the new premier, according to reports from Downing Street.
A survey of voters in Wakefield, who go to the polls for a by-election on June 23 to elect a new MP, suggests the Tories could lose by as much as 20 points.
The 42-year-old frontrunner's tally continues to grow as former prime minister Boris Johnson flies back from his Caribbean holiday to reportedly also join the contest.
Two victims of the deadly Sydney siege were remembered on Tuesday by tearful mourners at private memorial services here, a week after a gunman held them hostage inside a downtown cafe in Australia.
The 47-year-old senior cabinet minister was widely expected to become the third female British Prime Minister after 170,000 online and postal votes cast by Tory members, ending Sunak's historic run as the first member of Parliament of Indian heritage to compete for the top job at 10 Downing Street.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a triple blow following crushing defeats for his Conservative Party in two important by-elections that also prompted the resignation of the party's chairman and one of his close allies, raising another major challenge to the embattled premier's leadership.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday said he was sad to announce his resignation as Conservative Party leader, triggering a leadership election for a new Tory leader who will go on to become the new PM.
Boris Johnson is in a 'buoyant mood' and 'will fight on' to stay as the British Prime Minister, one of his top aides has said, despite some of the embattled premier's most loyal cabinet ministers, including Home Secretary Priti Patel, joining the mutiny and demanding his resignation.
The survey also shows a majority in favour of ousted leader Boris Johnson, with 55 per cent saying that Tory MPs were wrong to effectively force him to resign and 40 per cent saying they were right.
Sunak joins fellow Indian-origin candidate Suella Braverman, the UK Attorney General who is among the early Tory MPs to announce her plan to contest.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday came under fresh pressure on the reappointment of Indian-origin Suella Braverman as home secretary after two Conservative MPs questioned his decision, days after she quit over data breaches.
211 Conservative Party members of Parliament voted in favour of Johnson staying on as their leader.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Tuesday extended her bookmaker odds as the favourite to win the Conservative Party leadership race, with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak also trailing in a poll among Tory voters.
British Indian former Cabinet minister Rishi Sunak maintained his lead as the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and next UK prime minister widened on Sunday with a total of nine candidates in the fray, with Trade Minister Penny Mordaunt emerging as an early second favourite.
Rishi Sunak has revealed that his former boss, Boris Johnson, has not returned any of his messages and calls since he resigned from his cabinet as chancellor, implying tension between the duo as the British Indian former minister battles it out in a tough race to be elected the next leader of the UK's governing Conservative Party.
After the big blow of losing his chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid in quick succession, a flurry of junior ministerial and government aide resignations hit embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday as he fought the latest challenge to his leadership.
Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of Lindt Chocolate Cafe who was one of two persons killed during the Sydney siege, is being remembered as a hero with some reports claiming that he tried to snatch the weapon from the gunman to allow the other hostages to escape.
Sir Graham Brady, who is in-charge of collating the letters of no-confidence received by the 1922 Committee, said the threshold of 15 per cent of the Tory parliamentary party, or 54 MPs, seeking such a vote has been met and it will place on Monday evening in the House of Commons.
Britain's prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak has said he wants to change the UK-India relationship to make it a more two-way exchange that opens up easy access to UK students and companies in India.
The former Cabinet minister received 114 votes in the first round of a secret ballot of Tory MPs held in the House of Commons, followed by United Kingdom foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt in second place with 43 and environment secretary Michael Gove third with 37 votes.
The future of Rishi Sunak as Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party hangs in the balance as polling booths opened across the United Kingdom on Thursday, with millions expected to turn out to cast their votes in the general election.
Johnson, the former foreign secretary, secured 92,153 votes against 46,656 of his rival Jeremy Hunt in the battle for 10 Downing Street.
It would be the biggest Conservative victory since 1987, the poll suggests.
The 42-year-old is holding a solid 55 per cent lead with the Oddschecker betting odds aggregator, followed by a 29 per cent chance of former prime minister Boris Johnson making a comeback. Third placed in what is emerging as a three-way contest is Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt, who had polled third in the first round of parliamentary votes to shortlist candidates for the last leadership race.
In an accompanying vision statement, the former finance minister highlighted his track record of serving in the Cabinet, helping to steer the economy through the toughest of times with the COVID pandemic.
The government of British Prime Minister Theresa May was plunged into turmoil.
The UK became the first country to exit the economic bloc after 47 years of membership following the vote in favour of Brexit in June 2016.
The British Indian former Chancellor received 118 votes in the fourth round of voting by his party colleagues, just shy of the 120-mark.
The race to replace Boris Johnson as the Conservative Party leader and the British prime minister entered the final countdown stage on Friday, when voting officially closes for Tory members to choose between former chancellor Rishi Sunak or Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.
Sunak, 42, has consistently topped the shortlist since voting began last week and on Monday he bagged 115 votes in the third round, which leaves only four candidates in the race.
Rishi Sunak on Wednesday clinched his place for the final leg of the race to succeed Boris Johnson and will go head-to-head with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss as one of two finalists to take charge as Conservative Party leader and British prime minister.
The government had already indicated that it would pull its own motion on Johnson's "great new deal" and move it to next week if MPs were to back the delay amendment, introduced as an insurance policy against a default no-deal crash-out by the month-end deadline.
Following is the chronology of the main events illustrating Sunak's second shot at UK prime minister's post.
Even before Boris Johnson stepped out of 10 Downing Street on Thursday to deliver his resignation speech as Conservative Party leader and triggering a leadership race for a new British prime minister, at least one Indian-origin candidate is already lined up to compete for the "best job in the world".
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