Ashby MP Andrew Bridgen has yet to reveal who he is backing to be the new leader of the Conservative Party.

Leicestershire MPs rallied behind the female candidates in yesterday's (Wednesday) leadership contest vote.

Five of the county's local politicians have publicly declared who they want to be the next leader of the Conservative Party – and, by extension, our next Prime Minister.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has asked both Jane Hunt, MP for Loughborough and Mr Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, who they were backing in the race, but neither has responded.

Mr Bridgen was one of the most vocal opponents of the outgoing Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

He called for his resignation and even intended running for membership of the 1922 Committee - the body of backbenchers who had already called for a confidence vote in Johnson.

Before the Prime Minister's resignation, Mr Bridgen wanted to bring in a change of rule whereby the Prime Minister could face another confidence vote inside 12 months after the previous one.

However, he has set out what he wants to see in the next Conservative Party leader.

Mr Bridgen said: "He or she needs to have integrity, courage and show leadership, a real Conservative.

Andrew Bridgen was a fierce opponent of Boris Johnson's Premiership. Photo: BBC Breakfast

"The country has seldom needed such a leader more than now."

MP for Bosworth, Dr Luke Evans, and Edward Argar, MP for Charnwood, are the latest Leicestershire representatives to announce who they will be supporting through the contest.

Dr Evans revealed that he cast his vote for Penny Mordaunt.

He is the third county politician to throw their support behind Ms Mordaunt, who is currently the second favourite among MPs.

MP for Melton and Rutland, Alicia Kearns, and MP for South Leicestershire, Alberto Costa, are also supporting her bid.

Edward Argar previously declared his support for Sajid Javid. However, Mr Javid did not meet the threshold of 20 MPs he needed to proceed to the first round of voting yesterday. He dropped out of the race, alongside Grant Shapps and Rehman Chishti.

Mr Argar has now thrown his vote behind Liz Truss. The foreign secretary came in third in yesterday's vote.

Neil O'Brien, MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, has also announced who he wants to see take the top job. He is supporting Kemi Badenoch.

The remaining candidates needed to gain the support of 30 MPs yesterday to proceed in the race. Nadhim Zahawi and Jeremy Hunt failed to meet this threshold and were eliminated from the race.

Former chancellor, Rishi Sunak, came out ahead with 88 MPs voting him through. Penny Mordaunt was the second most popular with 67 votes, followed by Liz Truss (50 votes), Kemi Badenoch (40 votes), Tom Tugendhat (37 votes) and Suella Braverman (32 votes). They will now face a series of knock-out voting rounds, with the first taking place this afternoon. The candidate with the fewest votes in each will be eliminated from the race.

This will continue until only two candidates remain. Conservative members will then cast their votes via postal ballots to determine who will be the Party's and the country's next leader.