UK's Johnson steers clear of endorsing successor

Eleven hopefuls were on Monday in the race to become the next Conservative party leader and British prime minister but Boris Johnson refused to back any candidate vying to be his successor.

The contest was triggered last week when Johnson, 58, was forced to step down after a frenzy of more than 60 resignations from his government, in opposition to his scandal-hit leadership.

An influential committee of non-ministerial Tory MPs in parliament is set to outline a timetable for the election from about 1800 GMT on Monday.

But with calls for Johnson to leave Downing Street as soon as possible -- and to avoid the process dragging into MPs' summer holidays -- the numbers are likely to be whittled down quickly to just two.

Among those running are Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid, whose departures as finance minister and health minister sparked the wave of resignations.

Brexit figurehead Johnson dramatically announced his departure as party leader last Thursday but is staying on in Downing Street until a replacement is found.

Javid said that with Britain facing a soaring cost-of-living crisis, energy price hikes and the war in Ukraine, there was a need more than ever for "competence" in the country's leaders.