Tory MP Philip Davies says he'd vote for Donald Trump 'in a heartbeat'

Mr Davies represents Shipley in Yorkshire

Donald Trump is running for US president (AFP/Getty Images)

A British Conservative MP has endorsed Donald Trump, pronouncing that he would vote for the US presidential candidate “in a heartbeat”.

Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley in Yorkshire, said he was turned off by the fact Mr Trump’s rival Hilary Clinton kept “going on about the fact that she is a woman”.

In his endorsement of the Republican candidate Mr Davies said that Trump voters were motivated by “the same sense of pride” as people who voted for Brexit, which he supports.

“People are fed up of being told what they can and cannot think and what they can and cannot say,” he wrote in an article for the Heat Street website, which is run by his former Tory MP colleague Louise Mensch.

“I think that we should celebrate politicians who stand up and say things that are unpopular and controversial.”

He added: “It takes real guts to say unpopular and controversial things – and sometimes they really need to be said!”

He said Mr Trump was the opposite of the "believe-in-nothing" typical modern politician.

Mr Trump has advocated banning all Muslims from travelling to the US, and has said he will build a large wall on the Mexican border. He has called for mass deportations of undocumented migrants living in the US.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley (Rex Features)

The Republican presidential candidate previously stoked up a racially-charged conspiracy theory that claimed Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and has pronounced that it is impossible to “be too greedy”.

Mr Trump visited the UK after the EU referendum result and has since dubbed himself "Mr Brexit".

The US presidential election is on 8 November this year. Polls suggest a tightening race after an early lead for Ms Clinton.