The Attorney General called Donald Trump the “most brazen liar” in political history, The Telegraph can reveal.

Speaking on a podcast for his former chambers Matrix, Lord Hermer said politicians had “always lied” but the US President’s lying was “on a different scale” and “of a different nature”.

Citing Mr Trump’s false claims over the size of the crowds at his first inauguration and during the Covid pandemic, the Attorney General said: “I find it challenging. It’s bewildering. It’s discombobulating. It kind of almost plays with one’s sense of reality.”

His comments, from a podcast in May 2020, will embarrass Sir Keir Starmer and his Government as they attempt to build relations with Mr Trump and head off threats of trade tariffs against the UK.

It follows similar highly critical past comments about the US President by a string of Labour politicians, including David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister.