Donald Trump has offered a shock apology for insults he has unleashed on the campaign trail, telling supporters in North Carolina he regrets statements that may have caused people pain.

“As you know I am not a politician,” he told supporters in Charlotte, the biggest city in one of a handful of critical swing states. “I have never wanted to learn the language of the insiders and I have never wanted to be politically correct, it takes far too much time.”

He went on: “Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that, and believe it or not, I regret it. I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”

Giving his first major speech since announcing a major campaign reshuffle on Wednesday, Mr Trump attempted a new, sober tone, casting himself as a fighter for the “forgotten” American people and the enemy of the powerful.

Delivered from a teleprompter, it could almost have been the speech he didn’t give at his convention in Cleveland, peppered with mentions of “moms” and “dads” and uplifting promises of better tomorrows and visions of togetherness.

Mr Trump spoke, for instance, of a “new future of honesty, justice and opportunity. A future where America, and its people, always – and I mean always – come first”.

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“I’ve travelled all across this country laying out my bold and modern agenda for change,” he said. “In this journey, I will never lie to you. I will never tell you something I do not believe. I will never put anyone’s interests ahead of yours. And, I will never, ever stop fighting for you.”

If it at times seems jarring - even a little dull - it was because although he has given scripted speeches before, they were usually when discussing particular policy issues like the economy in a hotel ballroom, but not when addressing a rally, where his style had usually been full-throated.

It was not the version of Mr Trump that many had expected in the wake of his staff shake-up, which notably saw the recruitment as campaign chief executive of Stephen Bannon, the firebrand chief of Breitbart News, a far-right news website not known for politeness or restraint.

“It’s not about me,” Mr Trump averred. “It’s never been about me. It’s about all the people in this country who don’t have a voice. I am running to be their voice. I am running to be the voice for every forgotten part of this country that has been waiting and hoping for a better future."

“I am glad that I make the powerful a little uncomfortable now and again – including some powerful people in my own party. Because it means I am fighting for real change.”

In a city where more than a third of the population is black, Mr Trump also reached out to minority communities. “If African-American voters give Donald Trump a chance by giving me their votes, the result for them will be amazing,” Mr Trump declared.

He suggested they had been taken for granted by the Democratic Party for decades, “because the votes have been automatically there, there has been no reason for Democrats to produce”.

Mr Trump never elaborated on which insults he especially regretted delivering, though the list of potential candidates would be long beginning with the smear of all illegal Mexican immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists” and probably including his cruel mimicking of a disabled reporter.

North Carolina is one of four critical states where the Trump campaign will unveil its first television spots since the Republican convention along with Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania beginning on Friday. It expects to roll out the same spots in Virginia shortly also.

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That it has waited so long to take to the airwaves has puzzled some; Hillary Clinton, who has a deeper war-chest, has been airing spots excoriating Mr Trump for weeks in multiple states, including buying space in the current Olympic Games broadcasts. Since he Democratic Convention in Philadelphia, she has spent some $75 million in ten days. The total buy announced by Mr Trump will not exceed $5 million.

Mr Trump, however, believes in his ability to garner attention and media coverage for free with his talent for breaking the usual rules of political discourse and with rallies like the one in Charlotte.

Protestors demand Trump release his tax returns in Charlotte on Thursday (David Usborne)

Yet, in a worrying sign for his campaign, the event was sparsely attended compared to the giant crowds that Mr Trump regularly mustered when he was vying for the nomination during the primaries last winter and spring. His supporters were pushed into a small portion of a giant exhibitor’s hall in the bowels of the city’s convention centre, with a huge expanse of empty concrete floor behind them.

As well as bringing Mr Bannon on board, Mr Trump promoted Kellyanne Conway, a well-respected Republican strategist and pollster to take over as campaign manager. Just as Cory Lewandowski, Trump campaign manager until he was shown the door in June, used to do, Ms Conway will accompany him on the road for the 81 days that are now left until election day.

“We're going to sharpen the message,” she told CNN on Thursday. “We're going to make sure Donald Trump is comfortable about being in his own skin — that he doesn't lose that authenticity that you simply can't buy and a pollster can't give you. Voters know if you're comfortable in your own skin.”