Ashby MP Andrew Bridgen has announced he is backing Rishi Sunak in the race to be Britain's next Prime Minister.

Mr Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire, had not given any indication as to who he would support in the process to elect the next leader of the Conservative Party.

That was until today (Thursday) when he took to social media to declare his backing for the former Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr Bridgen tweeted: "When Britain was facing the uncertainty of a global pandemic, Rishi was there to ensure people in my constituency managed, he was there to support local businesses and he was there to ensure our hospitality sector survived.

"He was there for the residence of North West Leicestershire."

Mr Sunak was one of the first high profile ministers to resign from Boris Johnson's government earlier this month.

At the same time, Mr Bridgen was a strong opponent of the Prime Minister and calling for him to resign.

He also said he would stand for membership of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers, and force him out.

Rishi Sunak will now go head to head with Liz Truss to be party leader with the result due in early September.