Gazette readers were polled on their preference for who should be the next leader of the Conservative party and the UK’s next prime minister.

Leadership candidates have been whittled down to two, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

Of the two candidates, who will face a vote of the party membership, Gazette readers have narrowly opted for Mr Sunak.

Of the participants, 53.3 per cent backed Mr Sunak, with 46.7 per cent voting for Liz Truss.

This differs from nationwide polling from YouGov, where Liz Truss leads Rishi Sunak 62 per cent to 38 per cent.

Neither of the candidates have been endorsed by Hereford and South Herefordshire MP Jesse Norman. Mr Norman backed Nadhim Zahawi in the early stages of the race and was knocked out in the first round of voting.

At the time of print, around one in five conservative party members have said they are undecided on who they should vote for. Fifty per cent polled nationwide say that they believe Mr Sunak would make a good leader, where as 62 per cent say the same about Liz Truss.

The election was triggered by Boris Johnson’s resignation as party leader, the results are expected by September 5.