Former finance minister Rishi Sunak or head of diplomacy Liz Truss will become the country's new leader in September.
"Thirteen of the fifteen prime ministers since the war have been white men, but that's no longer something inevitable," Sunder Katwala, from the British Future research group, told AFP.
Liz Truss, if elected, will be Britain's third female prime minister, after Margaret Thatcher and Teresa May, both also Tories.
As for Rishi Sunak, a practicing Hindu, he would become the first head of the non-white government, at the head of a country which, for a time, reigned over the country of origin of his family.
Ethnic minorities, whose living conditions are worse than those of white people in many areas, "remain skeptical of the Conservatives' program, even if diversity is displayed at the very top", underlines Mr. Katwala.
And they "vote like everyone else: on taxes, the economy, Brexit".
Although he has been the subject of racist attacks on social networks, Mr. Sunak and his rise nevertheless underline a change in mentality among the Tories.
Referring to the racist insults he received as a child, Rishi Sunak said in 2020 that they "hurt more than others". "But it hasn't happened to me for a long time," he said, highlighting the "enormous progress" in this area.
In 1968, when many migrants from the Caribbean and South Asia were changing the face of the country, Conservative MP Enoch Powell predicted civil war if immigration continued. Polls from the time show that a majority of white Britons agreed with him.
- Racist and sexist scandals
The Conservatives now present a more inclusive face, but "the party has its new files, like Windrush and the racist campaign against Sadiq Khan", the Labor and Muslim mayor of London, underlines Mr. Katwala.
In 2018, the "Windrush scandal" highlights the migration policy - "racist" according to human rights associations - of the Tories when Caribbean immigrants who arrived legally more than half a century ago are deprived of rights , even expelled.
More recently, the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, backed by both Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, has further underscored the Tories' hard line on immigration.
The Tories have also multiplied sexist and sexual scandals, with several deputies accused of rape or sexual assault. And Tory MPs recently accused an opposition MP of distracting the prime minister by crossing and uncrossing her legs in parliament.
- Oxford again and again -
Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss are the latest two candidates to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson who resigned after a series of scandals and lies. Party members will vote in August by mail to determine the new leader.
According to a study carried out last year, the members of the party tend to be relatively old white men.
There were initially eight candidates to succeed Boris Johnson: four women and four non-white suitors.
When he won the election to lead the party in 2005, David Cameron and his six rivals were all white men, the former prime minister recently noted in the Sunday Times, encouraging minorities to go for it.
"Some see (social) cohesion as a soft concept and a second-best policy," he said. "This is not the case."
When he was in power, David Cameron implemented reforms to feminize and diversify the Conservative ranks. Liz Truss as Rishi Sunak have benefited.
But some things don't change: of the last 15 heads of government, 11 studied at Oxford. This is the case of Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.
"The elite is more open, provided they have the right education," said Katwala.
"You still have to find a way to do the same for working-class people," he added. "But it's still progress."
