UK shadow foreign secretary dubs Trump as an 'asteroid of awfulness' for the world

The UK's shadow foreign and commonwealth secretary has dubbed US President Donald Trump as an "asteroid of awfulness".

With a deadpan serious face, Labour MP Emily Thornberry told the BBC's Andrew Marr: "He is an asteroid of awfulness that has fallen on this world. I think that he is a danger and I think that he is a racist."

The answer received praise on Twitter. One user said: "Finally someone who's not afraid to say things straight." Another said: "Standing Ovation & Slow clap for @EmilyThornberry." A third added: "Well said Emily. It's unbelievable how one is expected to ignore appalling behaviour of this vile man."

Marr had asked Thornberry about the risk of "hacking off" Trump and endangering a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.

She responded that Trump "doesn't have a real grasp of what a trade agreement actually is" following his comment that he wanted to do a trade deal with Britain and that he could do it within weeks. "These things take years," Thornberry said.

She also claimed that Trump himself would not be carrying out the trade deal, saying: "The American democracy has many checks and balances and I think there are a number of people who are very important to speak to - and we never know from day to day what Donald Trump even thinks."

Thornberry also told Marr it was "wrong" for Theresa May to "prematurely" invite Trump for a state visit.