LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office on Sunday denied a report that he wanted his predecessor David Cameron to take over from business minister Alok Sharma as president of next year's United Nations COP26 climate change summit.

Earlier, ITV political editor Robert Peston said on Twitter that Johnson was keen for Cameron to take the job, but Cameron had not agreed because of his strong objections to a cut in Britain's foreign aid spending commitment announced last month.

"It's not true at all," a spokeswoman said in response to a request for comment from Reuters. "We are happy to knock it down."

The summit is due to take place in the Scottish city of Glasgow in November next year.

Peston had said ministers had told him it was unsustainable for Sharma to do the COP26 job part-time at the same time as being business minister, after US President-elect Joe Biden appointed John Kerry as his country's full-time negotiator.