President Donald Trump said he had been proved "right" about controversial claims that the Obama administration spied on him, and declined to apologise for an assertion that GCHQ carried out the surveillance.

In a lengthy interview with Time magazine he added: "I guess I can't be doing so badly because I'm president and you're not. I'm a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right."

The president's declaration on spying followed revelations from Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, that the names and communications of Mr Trump and his team appeared in intelligence reports as part of an "incidental collection".

Mr Trump told Time: "So, that means I’m right. Who knows what it is? You know, why, because somebody says 'incidental'.

"(We) were under surveillance during the Obama administration following November’s election. Wow."

Mr Trump also stood behind Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox News legal analyst who first suggested GCHQ had been asked by the Obama administration to carry out spying on him.

Mr Napolitano was later dropped by the television network and GCHQ called the assertions "utterly ridiculous".

But Mr Trump said: "I quoted the judge the other day. I have a lot of respect for Judge Napolitano, and he said that three sources told him things that would make me right.