Donald Trump said he "hates" seeing Brexit being "ripped apart," indicated he believes there should be no second referendum, and said that Theresa May "didn't listen" to his advice.

Mr Trump's intervention came as he also promised that a "large scale" trade deal with "unlimited potential" was waiting to be done between the UK and US after Brexit.

Speaking in the Oval Office, while meeting Leo Varadkar, the Irish Taoiseach, the US president said he had been watching the "very sad" developments in the UK, and his approach to negotiations would have worked better.

He said: "I will tell you, I'm surprised at how badly it's all gone from the standpoint of a negotiation. But I gave the prime minister my ideas on how to negotiate it, and I think you would have been successful. She didn't listen to that, and that's fine.

"I mean, she's gotta do what she's gotta do, but I think it could have been negotiated in a different manner, frankly. I hate to see it, everything being ripped apart right now."