Early on Saturday morning President Donald Trump launched a Twitter tirade against his predecessor Barack Obama, accusing him of having ordered wire tapping at Trump Tower in New York.

Amid speculation over the origin of the allegations it emerged that they may stem back to an exclusive report by the British independent journalist, novelist, and former Conservative MP for Corby, Louise Mensch, an opponent of Mr Trump.

On Nov 7, Mrs Mensch, who now lives in New York, published an article on the libertarian website Heat Street.

Citing two counter-intelligence sources it suggested a warrant had been issued to the FBI by a secret court to investigate whether there had been communications between a computer server at Trump Tower and two Russian banks.