George Osborne appears to endorse Hillary Clinton for President – and borrows Barack Obama’s gag

'We look forward to working with the next President, whoever she may be'

George Osborne has signalled his support for Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid in the United States – though, in a way markedly similar to Barack Obama.

Speaking on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, the Chancellor quipped: “We look forward to working with the next President, whoever she may be.”

However, it seems Mr Osborne borrowed his joke from Mr Obama’s comical performance at the White House Correspondent’s dinner in April. The US President, at the time, said: “Next year this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot and it’s anyone’s guess who she will be.”

It is an unorthodox intervention in American politics and appears to be the first formal endorsement of Ms Clinton’s presidential bid by a senior government figure. The democratic frontrunner is now well ahead of her rival Bernie Sanders. Ms Clinton now has 1,702 delegates while Sanders has 1,411, according to the AP count. Her lead is bigger when including superdelegates, giving her a total of 2,224.

It comes as David Cameron said Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate, “deserves our respect” for emerging victorious in his party’s contest. “Knowing the gruelling nature of the primaries, what you have to go through to go on and represent your party in a general election – anyone who makes it through that deserves our respect,” he said.

The Prime Minister, however, declined to withdraw his previous condemnation of Mr Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims entering the US. He added: “What I said about Muslims, I wouldn’t change that view. I’m very clear that the policy idea that was put forward was wrong. It is wrong, and it will remain wrong.”

Mr Cameron blasted the proposal last year as “divisive, stupid and wrong” amid an international outcry.