Starmer v Sunak: who are the men vying to be PM in the UK

The Conservative and Labour leaders come from starkly different backgrounds but both are fighting for the political middle ground

Over the next five weeks the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and the leader of the opposition, Labour’s Keir Starmer, will be battling to persuade voters that they are the best person to helm the next government.

Sunak’s election announcement last week surprised many political commentators because his Conservative party is trailing Labour in the opinion polls by more than 20 percentage points.