britain s former prime minister, borisjohnson, says he will not stand in the contest to choose the next leader of the conservative party and therefore prime minister. despite saying he thought there was a good chance he could have been back in downing street next friday, he said he didn t think he could unite his divided party. nominations close on monday afternoon, with the former chancellor, the uk s finance minister, rishi sunak and cabinet minister penny mordaunt the only candidates who ve declared they re running. our political editor, chris mason, has this report. are you running for the leadership, mr sunak? could september s loser be october s prime minister? rishi sunak is a step closer to downing street tonight, beaten by liz truss just weeks ago, he could replace her as soon as tomorrow. declaring his candidacy today, he wrote: he also felt the need to say: throughout the day, the public support for mr sunak among tory mps has continued to tick up. this minister re
soon follow. the government isn t getting rid of the vast covid system it s built, it s adjusting how people use it, like allowing some people to quarantine at home instead of forcing every covid case to isolate in a hospital. the worry remains this probably exit wave with cases already at a record high here and likely to surge. thanks to janis mackey frayer for that reporting. let s bring in ian bremer now. what do you think it means that we re seeing this communist government bow to public pressure, if only slightly. does it say anything about president xi jingping s political power? it s more of a head nod than it is a bow. let s be clear. and xi jingping, if we were talking just a few weeks ago, we would have been talking about his unprecedented third term and the way he disrespected at the end of the party congress and managed to consolidate power
for at least anotherfive years, and taken a firmer grip on power by promoting his allies. in beijing, mr xi was again chosen as the general secretary of the communist party, the most important political post in the country. china s economic results were finally released after the end of the party congress, the gdp has expanded by 3%, better than expected. china s neighbours are watching events in beijing, with increasing concern. from bangkok here s jonathan head. xi jinping and his assertive foreign policy are here to stay and that has prompted big changes in how the rest of asia views china. japan was always sceptical that china s rise could be peaceful and at the urging of the late shinzo abe, japan has wrapped itself in the security blanket of the so called quad, the us japan india australia alliance established explicitly to counter chinese military power in the region. what s less clear, though,