May asked if she feels guilty for not campaigning for Mandela's freedom

Theresa May faced awkward questions on her record campaigning for Nelson Mandela's release in the Seventies and Eighties as she visited the place where the former South African president was held for nearly two decades.

The Prime Minister was repeatedly asked what she did to campaign for Mr Mandela's freedom during the apartheid era.

Mrs May was asked by Channel 4 News whether she felt "guilty" for not doing more at the time, as she prepared to visit Robben Island.

Mrs May, who is in South Africa as part of a three-day trade mission to the continent, responded: "What I will be feeling when I go to Robben Island is to recognise the immense statesmanship of a man who spent so many years incarcerated and when he came out of that incarceration had that breadth of vision and that calm approach that has enabled South Africa to be built into the country that it is today."

Asked if she went on any protests at the time, she said: "I think you know full well that I didn't go on protests.

"But what is important is the work that the United Kingdom government did to ensure that it was able to give support where that support was needed.

She added: "What is important was the support that the UK government was giving at the time. Often support behind the scenes, but in other ways too, to ensure that we saw the result that we did in relation to the ending of Apartheid."