Donald Trump appears to have lost the backing of his most high-profile supporter, as Kanye West announces that his burgeoning political activism is over and adds: "I've been used".

The 41-year-old rapper had ignored the entreaties of his fellow musicians and decided to openly endorse Mr Trump, visiting him in Trump Tower before his inauguration and in the White House on October 11.

West held forth, in a surreal, televised, Oval Office encounter, on prison reform, slavery and poverty reduction in his hometown of Chicago.

On Tuesday evening, in a series of Twitter posts, West said he had had enough, implying that his views had been misconstrued.

He singled out Mr Trump's proposal this week to end accepting asylum requests at the southern border.