Donald Trump has waded into the controversy over Vanity Fair’s suggestion that Hillary Clinton should take up knitting - claiming a senior executive at the magazine’s parent company was “begging for forgiveness”.

The glossy magazine decided to apologise after it received a barrage of criticism on social media for a video it published that suggested the former secretary of state should take up six resolutions for the new year. Among the suggestions - which many commenters said was sexist and offensive - was that she should take up knitting.

“Literally anything that will keep you from running again,” the video said.

A spokeswoman for the magazine, that was for many years edited by Graydon Carter, said the video posted by The Hive, the magazine’s business and political news vertical, was “an attempt at humour and we regret [it]”. Spokeswoman Beth Kseniak said it had “missed the mark”.

The President, who is still on holiday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, took the opportunity to make fun of the magazine, which has long been critical of Mr Trump, and Ms Clinton, whom he referred to during the 2016 election campaign as “Crooked Hillary”.

“Vanity Fair, which looks like it is on its last legs, is bending over backwards in apologising for the minor hit they took at Crooked H,” he wrote on Twitter.

Emma Watson defends Vanity Fair photoshoot

“Anna Wintour, who was all set to be Amb to Court of St James’s & a big fundraiser for CH, is beside herself in grief & begging for forgiveness!”

Since November, Vanity Fair’s editor has been Radhika Jones.

Ms Wintour, whose personality was among the inspirations for the movie The Devil Wears Prada, has been editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988. In 2013, she became artistic director for Condé Nast, Vogue’s publisher.

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Rumours that Ms Wintour was set to be a US envoy to either France or Britain have percolated for a number of years. In 2013, the New York Times reported that she was hopeful Barack Obama would make her Ambassador to London, known formally as Ambassador of the United States to the Court of St James’s, when he began his second term.

In the end, the job went to Matthew Barzun, a former technology executive who spent 20 months as finance chairman of Mr Obama’s national fund-raising operation.

In January, as Mr Trump prepared to take office, axios.com published a list of staff that insiders of the Clinton campaign say were poised to serve if Ms Clinton had won.

John Podesta, whose computer was hacked and emails leaked to WikiLeaks, was one of three names identified with the position of Secretary of State. Mr Obama’s Vice President Joe Biden was also linked with that job.