Iowa caucus: Donald Trump concession speech in full

Trump was unusually gracious as he conceded defeat

Donald Trump gave an uncharacteristically gracious speech on Monday evening as he admitted defeat to Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus.

Trump came second after weeks of assuring voters that he would emerge on top having led opinion polls for weeks.

His concession speech was a departure from the self-assured ones he gave before losing to the Republican senator. With his wife Melania and his family stood by his side, Trump focused much of his speech on thanking those who had supported his campaign in Iowa and congratulating other candidates.

Most notable was the caution he used when addressing the forthcoming New Hampshire primary, where he said he “thinks” and “hopes” he will secure a victory there. His careful tone contrasted heavily with the self-confidence he displayed days before in Iowa, where he told a crowd: “We're going to win, we're going to win. We're leading everywhere.”

His speech in full is below:

“Thank you, thank you very much. I love you people. I love you people. Thank you. Unbelievable. I have to start by saying, I absolutely love the people of Iowa. Unbelievable. So on 16 June when we started this journey, there were 17 candidates. I was told by everybody, ‘Do not go to Iowa. You couldn't finish even in the top ten.’ I said, ‘But I have friends in Iowa; I know a lot of people in Iowa; I think they'll really like me. Let’s give it a shot.’ They said, 'Don't do it. I said, 'I have to do it.' And we finished second and I want to tell you something: I'm just honoured. I'm really honoured.

“I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates, including Mike Huckabee, who's become a really good friend of mine.

“Congratulations to everybody. Congratulations. I want to thank all of the folks that worked with us. We had a great team, and we will continue to have a great team and we’re just so happy with the way everything worked out. I have to thank my wife and Laura, and Eric, and Vanessa, and Don. They went out and they were doing speeches and, in fact, I think Don and Erica — I think you did about six speeches today. I want to thank my family. They have been so amazing and so supportive.

“And we've had every indication, we're going ... we have a poll: We're at 28 points ahead, New Hampshire. We love New Hampshire; we love South Carolina; and we're leaving tonight and tomorrow afternoon we’ll be in New Hampshire and that will be something special. It's going to be a great week, and we're going to be up here next week. I think we're going to be proclaiming victory, I hope.

"I don't know who's going to win between Bernie and Hillary. I don't know what's going to happen with Hillary; she has other problems, maybe bigger than the problems she's got, in terms of nominations. But we've had so many different indications and polls that we beat her and we beat her easily. And we will go on to get the Republican nomination, and we will go on to easily beat Hillary Clinton or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there Iowa, we love you we thank you. You're special. We will be back many, many times, in fact, I think I might come here and buy a farm, I love it. Okay?“

“Thank you, thank you, everybody thank you. Thank you very much.”