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Former finance minister Rishi Sunak has won the contest to replace Liz Truss as Conservative Party leader. He will become the U.K.'s first prime minister of color and of South Asian descent later this week.

Why it matters: The U.K. has faced extreme political and economic turmoil over the past several months, with Boris Johnson resigning due to a series of scandals and Truss then stepping down after just six weeks because her tax cuts plan caused a run on the British pound.

The latest: "The United Kingdom is a great country, but there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge. We now need stability and unity and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together," Sunak said in a brief address after assuming the party leadership.

Sunak is expected to meet later this week, likely Tuesday, with King Charles III, who will for the first time ask an incoming prime minister to form a government — a task his late mother Queen Elizabeth II fulfilled 14 times.

Unlike Johnson and Truss, who packed their Cabinets with loyalists from the right flank of the party, Sunak is expected to pick high-profile MPs from across the party.

How it happened: In hopes of restoring stability, party leaders resolved that the race to replace Truss would be over within a week. Candidates needed the support of at least 100 of the 357 Conservative Members of Parliament by Monday to progress, and party members were to choose between the final two candidates in an online vote. 

Johnson on Sunday abandoned a surprise bid to return to Downing Street after falling well behind Sunak among the MPs. While he claimed to have reached the requisite 100, far fewer were backing him publicly.

That left Sunak and House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt. Mordaunt was still short of 100 as Monday's deadline approached and dropped out of the race as well, meaning the members will not get a vote.

Flashback: Sunak also led among MPs during the previous leadership race over the summer, but party members opted for Truss.

Sunak warned presciently at the time that Truss' tax cuts would force a spike in interest rates.

The big picture: Sunak is perhaps best known for implementing the U.K.'s economic support package during the pandemic. He helped push Johnson out of office by resigning from his Cabinet in July.

At 42, Sunak will be the youngest prime minister to be appointed since 1812. Tony Blair and David Cameron were both 43 when they took office.

The pound rose as it became clear that Sunak, generally seen by the markets as a safe pair of hands, would win the race. 

Sunak entered Parliament in 2015 and backed Brexit during the 2016 referendum. During the previous leadership race, he faced scrutiny for his family's wealth and his wife's non-domiciled tax status.

What to watch: After a fairly shambolic period under Johnson and Truss, the Conservatives are trailing Labour by upwards of 30 points in the polls.

No general election is due for two years, but Labour is demanding one be called sooner. 

Go deeper: U.K. prime ministers have been falling fast since Brexit

Rishi Sunak to be U.K.'s next prime minister as rivals drop out

He will be the country's first prime minister of color.

Rishi Sunak (L) with Boris Johnson in 2020. Photo: oby Melville/WPA Pool/Getty 

United Kingdom

Brexit

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

Data: Axios research; Chart: Jared Whalen/Axios

The U.K. will by next week have its fifth prime minister since the 2016 Brexit referendum — the same number as in the previous 37 years.

Why it matters: The aftershocks of Brexit are still defining and dividing the Conservative Party, as Truss’ swift ascent and swifter descent make clear. 

Flashback: David Cameron promised a referendum during his winning election campaign in 2015 to settle his party’s long-standing internal squabble over EU membership. 

Cameron and most senior Conservatives campaigned against Brexit. When they lost, Cameron resigned, Theresa May (a fellow “Remainer”) came in, and the infighting only deepened. 

May’s core challenge was to balance the promises of the Brexit campaign — “taking back control” on immigration and trade — with the need to preserve relations with a bloc that accounted for half of trade and shared a land border with the U.K. in Northern Ireland. 

Most voters, and indeed most politicians, didn’t initially seem to grasp the bedeviling tradeoffs required. May was unable to navigate a path between Brexit purists and pragmatists and stepped down after three difficult years.

Then came Boris Johnson, who called and won an early election promising to “get Brexit done.”

That 2019 election, and Johnson’s tenure more generally, saw the party’s MPs and its electorate shift from Cameron-esque centrism to a more hardline vision on Brexit, immigration and trade. 

For a large swath of the Conservative Party, faith in Brexit has been packaged together with a general suspicion of expertise and institutions, and a belief that an unshackled U.K. can stand tall as a global power.

Liz Truss delivers her resignation speech. Photo: Rob Pinney/Getty Images

Truss, a Remainer-turned-Brexit hardliner, was the purest possible manifestation of that shift. 

When Johnson fell due to a string of scandals, with key Brexit questions still unresolved, the right flank in Parliament and in the broader party membership coalesced around Truss. 

When rivals and critics warned that slashing taxes while spending big on energy subsidies would supercharge inflation and interest rates, she called it “project fear” — an echo of the pro-Brexit campaign. 

Then, after economic turmoil did indeed come to pass and Truss was forced to ditch most of her platform, her right-wing former allies joined the centrist skeptics in demanding her resignation.

Shortest-tenured U.K. PMs, 1922-2022

Data: Axios research; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals

What's next: With the party's approval ratings at an all-time low, and an election looming in two years (or much sooner), the downtrodden Tory MPs must now decide to whom to turn. Many are emphasizing party unity while disagreeing about which contender can deliver it. 

Fans of former chancellor Rishi Sunak, whose warnings about Truss’ tax plans now look prescient, think he could begin to restore the party’s tattered reputation for economic prudence.

Supporters of House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt contend that, as a fairly moderate Brexiteer, she can bring together the opposing flanks. 

A similar case can be made for Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who declined to run over the summer but has been widely praised for his handling of Ukraine.

Hard-liners like Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch — two former leadership candidates who later joined Truss’ Cabinet — could credibly claim today's Tory party has moved toward them and away from the squishy center.

Then there’s the man who led the Brexit campaign, won the Conservatives their current majority, and is reportedly inclined to throw his hat in the ring: Boris Johnson. 

The bottom line: The post-Brexit identity crisis has played out with the Conservatives in power. A true reset might not be possible until they lose it.

Go deeper: Liz Truss just became the U.K.’s shortest-tenured PM

U.K. prime ministers have been falling fast since Brexit

The referendum split the Conservative Party and led to years of infighting.

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss is still officially in charge, but hardly seems to be in control.

The big picture: Truss unleashed chaos in the financial markets three weeks ago with a plan to slash taxes while simultaneously funding massive energy subsidies. Her finance minister is now gone, along with most of that plan and arguably her authority. 

Driving the news: It was not Truss but House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt who appeared before Parliament today to explain the departure of Truss' close ideological ally Kwasi Kwarteng as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mordaunt said Truss had been detained by "urgent business," then later clarified, perhaps unhelpfully, that "the prime minister is not under a desk."

Kwarteng's replacement, Jeremy Hunt — a relative moderate picked in part because he's not loyal to Truss — then stepped up to the dispatch box to explain that "nearly all" of Truss' trademark tax cuts would be reversed. Truss did turn up and sit silently at Hunt's side for a time before departing to jeers.

How it happened: Truss won the inter-party race to replace Boris Johnson by promising "bold" tax cuts, including for the rich, in order to boost economic growth.

Truss' leadership rival Rishi Sunak had warned that she risked supercharging inflation and forcing up interest rates — claims she dismissed as “project fear” from the “anti-growth coalition.”

In practice, the Truss-Kwarteng package spooked the markets so badly that the Bank of England staged an emergency intervention to ease a run on the pound.

Unable to steady the situation, Truss took the humiliating step of handing economic policy over to Hunt. 

State of play: Hunt acknowledged today that the government was partially to blame for the U.K.'s dire fiscal straits and said "nothing is off the table" — including potentially scrapping Truss' funding pledges for defense and pensions — to restore "stability." His performance seemed to calm the markets, for now.

Much damage has already been done. As Axios chief economic correspondent Neil Irwin notes, Brits are facing higher mortgage costs due to the chaos Truss unleashed without getting the tax cuts she promised.

Polls now consistently put the Conservatives more than 30 points behind Labour. Remarkably, one new poll out today finds that just 21% of 2019 Conservative voters think Truss would be a better prime minister than Labour leader Keir Starmer.

With her platform shredded and Hunt now overseeing the economy, the question Truss keeps getting from journalists (and some Conservative MPs) is, "Why are you still here?"

Voters generally feel the same way, says James Johnson, whose firm JL Partners has been conducting focus groups on Truss. "There was anger toward Boris Johnson. With Liz Truss, it's more despair. People think she's not up to the job."

Worse still, voters don't think she's looking out for them, Johnson says. "You have to be caring or competent," he says. "She's lost both." 

What to watch: The Westminster consensus is increasingly that Truss is on her way out, but with no election due for two years, members of Parliament from her own party would have to give her the shove. Johnson thinks that could happen within days, and will almost certainly happen before the next general election.

It's unclear if Conservative MPs would be able to coalesce around a single candidate — such as Sunak or Hunt — to avoid another leadership contest so soon. Other possible contenders include Mordaunt and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace.

The latest: Truss told the BBC this evening that "mistakes were made," but she had acted in the national interest to rectify them and will lead her party into the next general election.

Worth noting: If Truss is forced out, the U.K. will have its fifth prime minister since the 2016 Brexit referendum — as many as in the previous 37 years.

U.K. Prime Minister Truss abandons her agenda to stem market meltdown

Truss is still officially in charge, but hardly seems to be in control.

Liz Truss during a press conference on Friday. Photo: Daniel Leal/Pool via Getty Images

Liz Truss was announced Monday as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership election and thus the U.K.'s next prime minister, defeating former chancellor Rishi Sunak by a 57% to 43% margin.

Why it matters: In her current role as foreign secretary, Truss has made headlines for her hawkish approach to relations with the EU and the war in Ukraine. She's also vowed to slash taxes, despite the rocky state of the U.K.'s finances. She will be the third woman to serve as prime minister.

What's next: Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Scotland to formally resign to Queen Elizabeth II. Truss will make that same trip Tuesday to see the queen, before offering her first speech in Parliament.

Those visits usually take place at Buckingham Palace, but the 96-year-old monarch has requested that the 14th and 15th prime ministers of her tenure make the trip to Balmoral Castle.

How it happened: Johnson resigned after a revolt within his government over a string of scandals, including parties held in Downing Street in violation of pandemic lockdown rules.

Unlike Sunak, Truss never truly distanced herself from Johnson. She will now inherit the massive parliamentary majority to which Johnson led the Conservatives in the Dec. 2019 general election. 

She was chosen by members of the Conservative Party, a tiny slice of the British electorate (roughly 0.3%) that skews much older, whiter and wealthier than the public in general. That's led to claims that the process is "undemocratic."

The members chose Truss over former chancellor Sunak, who had finished first when Conservative members of Parliament narrowed the field to two in July.

The big picture: Truss voted "remain" in the 2015 Brexit referendum, but went on to become one of her party's most enthusiastic champions of leaving the EU. 

She has built her political brand in part on tussling with Brussels. Asked last week whether French President Emmanuel Macron was "friend or foe," Truss replied "the jury's out." 

What to watch: Truss has promised to lower taxes and vowed unequivocally last week not to introduce any new ones as prime minister.

But she's inheriting an exceptionally gloomy economic outlook. The British Chamber of Commerce expects the economy to slump into recession and inflation to hit 14% by year's end. Brits are facing energy price spikes of up to 80%.

The political winds are also not particularly auspicious. The Conservatives trail Labour in the polls (though no election is due for two years) and a new YouGov poll found that 52% of voters believe she will make a "poor" or "terrible" prime minister, while just 12% think she'll be "good" or "great."

The latest: In her remarks after the results were announced, Truss offered effusive praise for Johnson and promised to "deliver" on tax cuts and the energy crisis, and to win a general election for the Conservatives in 2024.

Liz Truss wins race to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister

Johnson out, Truss in. Now they'll both visit the queen.

Liz Truss outside her new home. Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Boris Johnson's successor will be the fourth Conservative prime minister in the past six years, continuing a trend of leaders ousted not at the ballot box but by party infighting.

Flashback: David Cameron resigned after losing the Brexit referendum in 2016 (with Johnson leading the opposing camp), while Theresa May stepped aside in 2019 after her Brexit deal was repeatedly voted down (with Johnson quitting her government in order to oppose it).

Johnson then called an election in December 2019 and won a landslide on his platform of "Get Brexit Done." The U.K. officially left the EU the following month.

What's next: Johnson will pass a big parliamentary majority on to his successor, along with many of the challenges associated with Britain's exit from the EU, including a fairly grim near-term economic outlook.

Labour currently leads the Conservatives in the polls, but the next election could come as late as January 2025.

Go deeper: The top candidates to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister

Revolving door on Downing Street

Brexit feuds brought down his two predecessors.

Boris Johnson

The U.K.'s next prime minister is likely polishing their campaign pitch after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced — belatedly, when all other options had evaporated — that he would be stepping down.

Driving the news: Two candidates to replace Johnson as Conservative Party leader and thus prime minister have already thrown their hats into the ring, with many more expected to follow. The man who led the campaign to take Britain out of the EU and appeared electorally untouchable after a landslide victory in 2019 will soon be yesterday's news.

Half of Johnson's government, some 59 ministers, had resigned by the time he approached a podium outside Downing Street to announce his exit (something he insisted through Wednesday evening he would not be doing).

"The herd instinct is powerful, and when the herd moves, it moves," Johnson said, maintaining his wry tone even as he described his ouster as "painful" and "eccentric."

Johnson added that no politician is indispensable and "our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader."

How it happened: The last straw came when Johnson's deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher, resigned after being accused of groping two men. It emerged that Johnson was aware of previous sexual misconduct allegations against Pincher before appointing him.

That followed months of drip-drip revelations that Downing Street had hosted boozy parties while the U.K. was in a strict COVID lockdown. "Partygate" stuck to Johnson in a way no previous scandal had (and there were many).

He compounded the frustrations of his lieutenants by forcing them to defend positions — "there were no parties in Downing Street," "he wasn't aware of the concerns about Pincher" — that turned out to be fiction.

A cost-of-living crisis and a controversial tax hike didn't help matters.

Perhaps most damaging of all was his transition from electoral magician to liability.

The Conservatives trail Labour in the polls and have suffered a string of embarrassing defeats in recent special elections.

Johnson blamed the parliamentary "herd," but the public turned on him long before his Cabinet did.

What's next: Johnson has cobbled together a new Cabinet of MPs still willing to serve under him, and he intends to stay in office for up to three months as the party leadership contest plays out.

He said in Thursday's address that the timetable will be released next week, and he assured the Cabinet that he won't take major policy steps in the interim.

Tory heavyweights including former Prime Minister John Major have urged him to step aside now in favor of his deputy to end the political circus. Labour leader Keir Starmer is threatening a no-confidence vote if he doesn't.

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Tom Tugendhat and Attorney General Suella Braverman have launched their campaigns to succeed Johnson.

The potential favorites include recently departed Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who together launched the resignation wave by stepping down on Tuesday evening, as well as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

The bookmakers' favorites also include Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, whose stock has risen during the war in Ukraine, and Penny Mordaunt, who as a relatively moderate Brexiteer could conceivably help unite the sparring wings of the party.

What to watch: If Johnson's political career up to now is any guide, the coming transition period may be an eventful one.

How it all fell apart for Boris Johnson

In a career filled with scandals, one finally caught up to him.

Boris Johnson gives a press conference on Covid last year. Photo: Adrian Dennis-WPA Pool/Getty Images

Liz Truss, jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

Among the most likely replacements for Boris Johnson are (from left) Liz Truss, Jeremy Hunt, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid. Photos: Victoria Jones/PA Images; Chris J. Ratcliffe; Chris Jackson; Chris J. Ratcliffe via Getty Images

Boris Johnson resigned as Conservative Party leader Thursday, but said he'd stay on as U.K. prime minister until a new leader is chosen. The announcement came after his allies deserted him over his mounting scandals. 

State of play: The race to replace him as both leader of the Conservative Party and as prime minister looks wide open. Top officials in Johnson's government, including recently-resigned Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, are likely to run, and Johnson rivals like former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt are also expected to enter the race.

How it works: The first stage of the leadership election will begin with the 358 Conservative members of Parliament voting to narrow a list of declared candidates down to two. Then 180,000 or so dues-paying members of the Conservative Party will vote to elect the next leader.

The deputy prime minister isn't widely believed to have leadership ambitions, but could assume the role of caretaker prime minister if Johnson is forced to resign immediately rather than wait for the new Conservative leader to be elected.

As the second-most powerful man in Westminster and the face of the government's popular COVID support programs, Sunak once seemed like the heir apparent — and could still be. But he was fined alongside Johnson over the "partygate" scandal and has seen his popularity fall significantly.

The foreign secretary stood by Johnson throughout his scandals while shaping her own hawkish image in confrontations with Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine and Brussels over Brexit. She consistently polls as one of the most popular senior Tories among Conservative Party members. 

The runner-up to Johnson in the 2019 leadership contest, Hunt is seen as a moderate and is positioning himself as a safe pair of hands to replace the more erratic Johnson. The former health secretary and foreign secretary now chairs Parliament's Health and Social Care Select Committee and is leading an investigation into Johnson's response to COVID.

Javid was the first Cabinet member to abandon Johnson on Tuesday, then went a step further by questioning Johnson's integrity during Prime Minister's Questions. That seemed to signal he was planning another leadership bid after losing to Johnson in 2019.

The defense secretary's profile has grown significantly during the war in Ukraine, during which he has been one of the strongest international proponents of arming the Ukrainians. The Army veteran and Johnson loyalist is highly popular with the Tory base and many of his Westminster colleagues.

Currently minister of state of trade policy and formerly the U.K.'s first female defense secretary, Mordaunt is a popular pick to replace Johnson in part because — as a prominent Brexiteer who took a more pragmatic approach while serving in Theresa May's government — some see her as well placed to unite the Tory factions.

A wealthy former businessman whose family fled Iraq under Saddam Hussein when he was 9 years old, Zahawi saw his popularity and profile rise after successfully leading the U.K.'s vaccine rollout. He was elevated to education secretary, then chancellor after Sunak's resignation. But 24 hours later, he joined a delegation of ministers urging Johnson to quit.

A British Army veteran who went viral for a speech he delivered during the U.S. and UK's withdrawal from Afghanistan, Tugendhat was the first Conservative to openly declare his interest in running for leadership if Johnson resigned. He has chaired the Foreign Affairs Select Committee since 2017 and is a frequent critic of Johnson.

The attorney general in Johnson's government, Braverman surprised many by declaring her interest in running for leader in a television interview on Wednesday night — without having resigned from the Cabinet herself. Braverman is viewed a hardline Brexiteer who identifies with the right-wing of the Conservative Party.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct that Sajid Javid resigned on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

The top candidates to replace Boris Johnson as U.K. prime minister

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson clung on to his job Monday after surviving a no-confidence vote sparked by members of his own party. 148 Conservative MPs voted to remove him, short of the 180 required for a majority.

Why it matters: Johnson was found to have broken the law by attending several social gatherings during the U.K.'s strict COVID-19 lockdown. He'll be further weakened by the revelation that so many within his own party want him gone. Still, party rules dictate that he cannot face another confidence vote for a year.

Yes, but: Previous Tory prime ministers, most recently Theresa May in 2018, have failed to keep their jobs for long after facing a confidence vote.

Margaret Thatcher also resigned in 1990 not long after surviving a leadership challenge by a similar margin.

Johnson's standing with the public has also fallen sharply. His approval rating is down to 29% and he was booed on Friday while attending celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.

Under party rules, 15% of Conservative MPs must express disapproval of the party leader to spark a vote — a threshold that was reached on Monday — and a majority must vote to remove them. 

What to watch: In the immediate aftermath of the vote, a number of politicians and pundits began to predict Johnson's political demise, though he has shown a remarkable resilience to scandal in the past.

The very attributes that won Johnson a landslide victory in 2019 have now become his weaknesses, James Johnson, who worked as May's chief pollster in Downing Street, tells Axios.

"The strongman that voters liked, they now view as weak. The rare politician that they thought they could laugh along with is now seen to be laughing at them. It’s very difficult to see how Boris Johnson restores the trust of the people and his reputation regardless of the outcome of this confidence vote this evening," says Johnson, co-founder of polling firm JL Partners. 

Boris Johnson survives no-confidence vote over lockdown parties

He was found to have broken the law by attending lockdown parties.

Boris Johnson at Downing Street. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Images via Getty

Until recently, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's popularity within his party and with the public made his position appear almost invulnerable. Now 6 in 10 Brits think he'll be out of a job by the end of next year.

By the numbers: Johnson's approval ratings have plummeted to a record-low 30%, his Brexit negotiator just abandoned ship, and his image as an electoral juggernaut has been tainted.

How it happened: Johnson has faced relentless headlines since early November about "sleaze" in his party ranks (he moved to change ethics rules in an ill-fated attempt to save scandal-tainted Brexiteer Member of Parliament Owen Paterson) and his own home (he used an undeclared donation to refurbish 10 Downing Street).

He's faced brutal press coverage for matters trivial (the bizarre speech in which he lost his place and rambled about Peppa Pig) and substantial (the resignation of Brexit Minister David Frost over the direction of Johnson's government).

On COVID-19, he's tried to walk a tightrope between scientific advisers pushing a stronger response to the Omicron wave and Conservative backbenchers resisting any such steps — 100 of whom rebelled against Johnson in last week's vote to require COVID passes to enter certain large venues.

Then there are the parties, or "work meetings," depending on whom you ask.

Johnson denied an initial wave of reports about Christmas parties in Downing Street during last year's strict lockdown. Then came a leaked video of his spokesperson joking about just such a party at the time.

Johnson tasked Cabinet Secretary Simon Case with investigating whether any such parties had taken place, but Case stepped down after it emerged that his office might have hosted one.

On Sunday, the Guardian published a photo, taken during another strict lockdown in May 2020, of Johnson seated with his wife and aides in the Downing Street garden, with wine and cheese on the table and a dozen more aides gathered in the background.

Johnson insists the photo shows "people at work talking about work." Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab bolstered his own claim of a work meeting by noting that the people in the photo were wearing suits (most of them weren't).

The big picture: Johnson's political allies have forgiven him all manner of sins in the past because he's a proven election winner.

Since London started directly electing mayors in 2000, Johnson is the only Conservative to win. He did it twice.

Johnson led the underdog pro-Brexit campaign, cruised through the 2019 Conservative leadership election, and then won the party's biggest general election landslide in three decades.

But when Paterson's seat was up for a special election on Thursday, the Conservative candidate was badgered with questions about Johnson's integrity (which he declined to answer). The Conservatives lost a seat they had held for 200 years, and the party's former electoral savior began to look like a liability.

State of play: Labour currently leads the Conservatives in the polls for the first time since Johnson became Tory leader, but an election isn't due until 2024.

If Johnson is indeed to be ousted in 2022, the shove will have to come from within his own party. Imminent action on that front seems unlikely, though Conservative MPs have started knifing Johnson anonymously in the press.

Boris Johnson has gone from life of the party to liability

Looking back at a very bad six weeks for the U.K.'s PM.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a police station visit in London on Monday. Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Tel Aviv

Axios from Tel Aviv

The Biden administration and the Israeli government held talks recently on countering the proliferation of Iranian drones and cruise missiles among its proxies in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon, Israeli and U.S. officials tell me.

Why it matters: After several drone attacks from pro-Iranian militias in recent weeks, some of which were thwarted, the U.S. and Israel are highly concerned that the technology will spread to additional groups who could target their forces in the region.

Driving the news: Al Asad Airbase, where most U.S. troops in Iraq are stationed, has been attacked repeatedly by pro-Iranian Shia militias. A hangar was damaged in a drone attack on May 8, and two armed drones were shot down there on June 6.

The Israeli air force, meanwhile, shot down an armed Iranian drone that was trying to enter Israeli airspace during the Gaza crisis on May 18.

Behind the scenes: During a meeting in Washington on April 27, national security advisor Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben Shabbat, agreed to establish an inter-agency working group to focus on unmanned aerial vehicles and precision-guided missiles produced by Iran and provided to its regional proxies.

The group's first meeting took place three weeks ago, with the U.S. side headed by White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and the Israeli side led by deputy national security adviser Reuven Azar.

The Israeli delegation proposed a regional cooperation framework involving Arab countries who face a similar threat from Iranian drones and missiles.

The Israeli side also proposed a no-fly zone for Iranian-made drones in the region, per Israeli officials briefed on the meeting. It's not clear how that would work.

What’s next: Israeli officials say their impression is that the working group will continue meeting because the Biden administration sees the drone threat to U.S. forces in the region as a high priority and worries that as the technology spreads the danger will only grow more severe.

Scoop: U.S. and Israel huddle on drone threat from Iran

The White House is worried Iran will share drones with more proxies.

iranian Army drones on display in January. Photo: Iranian Army via Getty

Iran

Israel

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom shocked the world and voted to “Brexit,” or leave the European Union. After more than three years of uncertainty and fractured politics, the U.K. officially exited the EU on Jan. 31, 2020. 

“Leave”: The pro-Brexit campaign focused on cutting immigration, gaining sovereignty and slashing payments to Brussels.

“Remain”: The opposing campaign emphasized economic harm if Brexit went ahead.

Conservative Party: At the time of Brexit, the Conservative Party held a majority in Parliament. The party lost its majority in a snap election called by then-Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May in 2017 and was forced to rely on the support of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party.

David Cameron: Prime Minister from 2010-2016. He called the referendum, campaigned for "Remain," and resigned after losing the vote.

Theresa May: Prime Minister from 2016-2019. May supported remaining in the EU before winning the leadership election to replace Cameron. She resigned from the position after failing to win support for her approach to Brexit.

Boris Johnson: The U.K.’s prime minister as of July 24. He was one of the most vocal proponents of leaving the EU from within the Conservative Party.

Labour Party: The opposition party in Parliament, whose members overwhelmingly supports remaining in the EU.

Jeremy Corbyn: The hard-left leader of the Labour Party. He opposed Brexit (at least officially) but after the vote said the results must be respected. He's been accused of failing to take a firm stance in favor of remaining, which has caused the party to hemorrhage support.

No deal Brexit: The case in which the U.K. leaves the E.U. with no formal exit agreement, which would be bad for Europe and disastrous for the U.K. There is an overwhelming consensus on both sides of the aisle that a no-deal Brexit cannot be allowed to happen, per Axios’ Felix Salmon.

Everything you need to know about Brexit

The U.K. has a new prime minister, but the same incredibly complex puzzle it's faced for the past two years.

All Brexit stories