DONALD Trump has been praised by the former head of the Ku Klux Klan who said that the controversial Republican frontrunner spoke “a lot more radically” than him.

However, David Duke said he had not endorsed Trump and was critical of his support of Israel.

“As far as what I see, according to the candidates that are out there now, Republicans and Democrats, I think he’s head and shoulders right now above the rest,” said Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and a one-term Republican senator in Louisiana.

“I don’t agree with everything he says, he speaks a little more, actually he speaks a little more, a lot more radically than I talk. And I think that’s a positive and negative.”

“It’s positive in the fact that there’s less political correctness and people are getting the courage to speak out,” Duke continued.

“At the same time, I’m concerned that I don’t agree with all of his policies. I certainly don’t support the idea of America supporting the nation of Israel.”

Duke made the comments during an interview published on his Youtube channel.

Duke said the interview was with the Fox news network but it is unclear if the interview aired or who is the interviewer.

Duke, a convicted felon who has served jail time for tax fraud, has spoken out in the past about his belief in a Jewish conspiracy to control the US financial system.

He left the Ku Klux Klan in 1980 although he has since headed white nationalist organisations.

Trump has received enthusiastic support from a number of leading racists and white supremacist groups in the US because of his far-right rhetoric on the campaign trial that has included calling Mexican illegal migrants “rapists” and a call for a ban on Muslim immigrants.

Duke described Trump’s appeal in the interview. He said: “I think the appeal of Donald Trump is the fact that he’s giving voice to a lot of people, including, and I think he represents the rights of all people in this country, but he actually includes the values and the interests of the European-American majority, and I think that’s the underlying appeal behind his popularity.”