Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to ask for financial support from Britain when he meets his counterpart Gordon Brown in London.

He is also expected to request the lifting of sanctions imposed by Britain on members of the government close to President Robert Mugabe.

Mr Tsvangirai is on a tour of America and Europe to lobby for relief funds.

In an interview with the BBC on Sunday he defended the record of the unity government formed in February.

He said schools and hospitals had reopened, and that the human rights situation improved.

Mr Tsvangirai also called for “normal relations between Zimbabwe and the UK”, saying it was “important to support this transition in order to strengthen the democratic reforms”.

He said Mr Mugabe, who has ruled the landlocked former British colony since 1980, had accepted there need to be changes.

“Mr Mugabe has already moved, he has already accepted that this is a process of transition and after two years we should go for an election.

“It will be a fair election because we are transforming the electoral environment. We are transforming the institutions that were used to abuse people.”

On Saturday, Mr Tsvangirai was booed by Zimbabwean exiles when he urged them to return to the country.