British finance minister George Osborne, once the favourite to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron, said today he would clarify whether he would run for leadership of the Conservative Party this week after Britons voted to leave the European Union.

"There have been questions about the future of the Conservative Party and I will address my role within that in the coming days", he told reporters at a news conference in London.

Osborne was one of the main campaigners seeking to keep Britain in the EU.

He said he would not step down his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer because of the post's importance in the present situation.

He said the British economy was strong and would face the new situation from a 'position of strength'.

He said he intended to take part in talks with the EU on the future relationship with Britain and signalled there would be no emergency Budget until a new prime minister was in place.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.