UK's Tories vaunt diversity in race for next PM

A political party whose membership skews white and male will decide in the coming weeks between an ethnic Indian and a woman to be its new leader, and hence Britain's next prime minister.

The Conservative runoff between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss means that Boris Johnson's successor in 10 Downing Street will represent a visible, and possibly historic, change.

"Thirteen out of 15 prime ministers since the war have been white men, but it's no longer the inevitable norm," Sunder Katwala, director of the research group British Future, told AFP.

"It's not even that much of a surprise that the next leader will be different."

Foreign Secretary Truss, 46, would be only the third woman prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, who were both also Conservative.

Ex-finance minister Sunak, an observant Hindu, would be truly breaking new ground as the first prime minister of colour, ruling a country that itself once ruled a quarter of the world's population, including India.

But for ethnic minorities, Katwala argued, "they're going to be voting just like everyone else on tax, the economy, Brexit". 

"They remain sceptical of the Conservative agenda, despite the new diversity at...