The UK’s relationship with the United States could be ’challenged’ if Donald Trump succeeds in securing a second term in office, according to a former Tory Minister.

Rory Stewart, who briefly considered running for the Tory leadership and was Secretary of State for International Development in Theresa May’s government before his three-month stint in the Cabinet last year, is concerned about the implications of a Trump victory in November.

Speaking to The Guardian, he said: "If Trump comes in for another four years that will be very challenging for the global system and for Britain’s relationship with the US.

"If we were to move away from the US, and Trump obviously poses the challenge that that may have to happen, we are going to find ourselves in a situation in which much of our Foreign Office infrastructure had been predicated on working very closely with the US for a very long time.

“If we have to move away from the US, it will involve a much bigger shift in national security infrastructure than we have ever experienced. Almost since Suez, they have been our default."

Meanwhile, the former head of MI6 and UK ambassador to the UN Sir John Sawers, said: "There is no doubt President Trump is the most difficult president for us to deal with.

"He does not really feel that sense of being part of that transatlantic community, he does not really believe in alliances. He does not really believe in American leadership in the world. We are seeing in this pandemic for the first time what a crisis is like without American leadership. It is the first time in our lifetime we have experienced that.

"If he gets elected for a second time some of the changes we have seen in the past few years will become embedded and entrenched and then, absolutely Britain will not be so much a bridge between the US and Europe. We will need to be bounding closely together with our European partners."

The 2020 race for the White House sees Trump take on Democractic nominee Joe Biden, culminating on Tuesday, November 3.

President Trump’s approval ratings were recently recorded as the lowest ever for this time in office.