Donald Trump 'basically a right-wing Richard Branson' says Piers Morgan

Donald Trump is a "right-wing Richard Branson" who would be "an awful lot more moderate" in the White House than he is on the campaign trail, his friend Piers Morgan has said.

Mr Trump looks set to storm to victory in the race to become the Republican presidential nominee after winning a string of endorsements on Super Tuesday.

But the property tycoon turned politician has sparked widespread outrage with some of his more controversial policies, which include building a wall to stop illegal immigration from Mexico, and a short-term ban on Muslim immigrants.

Mr Morgan, who struck up a close friendship with the Republican after appearing on his show The Apprentice in America, compared Mr Trump to the popular British entrepreneur.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I read Trump is going to be the new Hitler, and I find that an absolutely facile way of looking at a guy who is basically a right-wing Richard Branson.

"And American politics right now really does need somebody who is good at doing deals.

"Barack Obama has been paralysed, from gun control onwards, in the Senate in his inability to actually get anything done.

"Trump, whether you love him or hate him, is one of the great deal-makers in the world. And if he was in charge of the White House, at the very least, I would pay good money to see him in a room with Vladimir Putin striking a deal."