The most senior elected US Republican leader said yesterday he had found common ground with Donald Trump as the party took a first step towards bridging deep rifts caused by his campaign for the White House.

Following a meeting on Capitol Hill with Mr Trump, Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, stopped short of endorsing the party’s likely presidential nominee. But they issued a joint statement saying it was “critical” for the party to unite to beat Hillary Clinton in November’s election.

“While we were honest about our few differences, we recognise that there are also many important areas of common ground,” Mr Ryan said later. “We will be having additional discussions, but remain confident there’s a great opportunity to unify our party and win this fall,” the statement said.