Donald Trump's widely mocked account of being carried to safety by firefighters near Ground Zero after 9/11 has been branded "so f------ sick" by Emily Maitlis, the BBC journalist whose 2019 interview helped precipitate Andrew Windsor’s withdrawal from royal duties.

The shifting tone — a night after using the the party’s rare midterm convention to urge people to vote and “pretend that I’m on the ballot” — reflected a departure from the message that the GOP has sought to convey in recent weeks as Trump’s sagging poll numbers, an unpopular war and high prices threaten their majorities in Congress.