Donald Trump urged Theresa May to be “brutal” and “tough” in Brexit negotiations but she ignored his advice to “overshoot” her true targets at the start of her talks with the EU.

The US President said he had given Mrs May his personal tips on how to get deals done, and that it was not too late to “do what I suggested to her”.

He refused to specify what the advice was, but in an interview with The Telegraph his former adviser Steve Bannon reveals that Mr Trump told her to demand far more than she ever expected to get, and to maintain “momentum” because “if it drags out the deal doesn’t get done”.

Mrs May had to endure an uncomfortable press conference with Mr Trump following a three-hour meeting with him at Chequers, during which the President cast doubt on Brexit by saying Britain would “perhaps” leave the EU.

Mrs May, clearly stung, retorted: "I heard the turn of phrase that the President used earlier, but let me be very clear about this: We will be leaving the European Union, and we are leaving on the 29th of March, 2019."

Mr Trump said Mrs May had missed her opportunity to walk away from negotiations with Brussels “because if she walks away she’s stuck”.

Importantly for Mrs May, the President denied saying in an interview that the Prime Minister’s Brexit plan would “kill” a US trade deal. He insisted a US-UK trade deal could still be achieved, and that the two countries could “double, triple or quadruple trade”.