Research from a leading polling company has crowned Cumbrian MP Rory Stewart as the 'clear winner' in last night's TV debate.

Held just two hours after results from the second round of voting in the ongoing Conservative leadership contest, the BBC debate saw remaining contenders clashing on their competing visions for the future of Brexit, their party and the country.

Now research firm YouGov has declared Mr Stewart, the international development secretary and Penrith and the Border MP, as the debate's winner.

Finding that more than one in three viewers - 35 per cent - felt the former prisons minister made the biggest impact in the debate, Mr Stewart was 14 per cent ahead of rival contender Boris Johnson, who managed to most impress just 21 per cent of viewers.

Third place in the YouGov polling was Jeremy Hunt, most impressing 14 per cent of viewers polled by the researchers, then Michael Gove, who most impressed nine per cent of viewers.

Sajid Javid was placed last in the YouGov polling, most impressing just five per cent of viewers.

The remaining 16 per cent were unable to pick a candidate they felt emerged as a clear winner.

Perhaps worrying for the Penrith MP, YouGov found that Mr Stewart was only the third favourite among Conservative Party voters, winning the admiration of 18 per cent, behind Jeremy Hunt's 20 per cent.

Among Conservative voters, YouGov found that Boris Johnson was considered the winner of last night's debate, with 34 per cent of Conservative voters selecting the former foreign secretary as having bested his rivals.

This hints at an uphill battle for the Cumbrian MP, as it is the 130,000 members of the Conservative Party who decide the next prime minister, and not the general population.

Another round of voting on the next Conservative leader will take place tonight, though as in the previous two rounds this voting is restricted to Conservative MPs.

The leadership hopeful receiving the fewest votes this evening will be knocked out of the race.

Sajid Javid was the lowest-scoring leadership contender yesterday not knocked out of the contest, winning 33 votes - the minimum margin needed to scrape through.

Mr Stewart was just four votes ahead of this threshold, securing 37 votes, another four behind Michael Gove on 41.

Jeremy Hunt walked away with second place, securing 46 votes, which paled in comparison to Boris Johnson, the clear frontrunner among Tory MPs.

Winning 126 votes, Mr Johnson looks set to comfortably find himself as one of the final two contestants put to the Conservative Party membership.