Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman has become the county's first MP to declare who he is backing to take over from Liz Truss as prime minister.

In a tweet on Friday morning, Mr Freeman said he would again be supporting Penny Mordaunt for the top job.

"Britain needs stability and unity, not a soap opera," he wrote.

"Having helped run the Penny Mordaunt campaign in July, the last few weeks and months have shown why she has what it takes to bring the unity, stability and economic responsibility we need in 10 Downing Street."

Portsmouth North MP Ms Mordaunt came third in the summer Conservative leadership contest, and ended up backing Ms Truss, while Mr Freeman supported Rishi Sunak.

At the time of Mr Freeman's nomination, she had 19 known endorsements from Tory MPs, compared with Rishi Sunak on 51 and Boris Johnson on 52.

Contenders need 100 nominations to enter the new contest to succeed South West Norfolk MP Ms Truss as leader, who resigned on Thursday after just 44 days as PM.

No other Norfolk MP has said who they are backing, though in an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk, North Norfolk MP Duncan Baker said he had been "inundated" by requests from constituents for Mr Johnson to return.