Donald Trump elected President

Hillary Clinton rang Mr Trump to concede defeat after the US presidential election went down to the wire.

Flanked by his family and closest supporters, the billionaire businessman told supporters in New York: ‘America will no longer settle for anything less than the best.

‘We must reclaim our country’s destiny and dream big and bold and daring.

‘We have to do that. We’re going to dream of things for our country, and beautiful things and successful things once again.’

At the end of one of the most divisive elections in modern US history, the Republican candidate sealed victory when he took key battleground states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

The Clinton camp initially refused to throw in the towel.

But TV networks reported around 7.40am UK time that Mrs Clinton had rung Mr Trump to concede defeat.

Many reader’s took to The News Facebook page to voice their surprise at the result.

Trump’s running mate Mike Pence told ecstatic Trump supporters at a rally in New York: “ The American people have elected their new champion.”

Mr Trump’s victory was all but certain after the Associated Press news agency reported he had taken Pennsylvania, a key battleground state, giving him 264 electoral votes, just six short of the 270 finishing line.

He was also comfortably ahead in Wisconsin, with 10 electoral votes, suggesting there was no way back into the race for Mrs Clinton.

The apparent election of the outspoken businessman and TV personality, who has never held public office, illustrates the anger and frustration felt by many Americans at the political establishment represented by Democratic former secretary of state Mrs Clinton.

In an upset which has drawn parallels to the Brexit victory in the UK, Mr Trump rewrote the rules of political campaigning.

Mrs Clinton’s failure to become the first female president in US history would bring down the curtain on a political career which has seen her spend decades at the heart of American politics.

That experience may have played a major role in the result.

Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, with Mrs Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state and the 2012 attack on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, frequently highlighted during his campaign against the rival he dubbed ‘crooked Hillary’.

International markets panicked as Mr Trump closed in on victory, with shares tumbling and the dollar falling in value against the Japanese Yen.

Mr Trump’s outspoken rhetoric about Mexicans during the campaign - and his promise to build a wall between the US and its southern neighbour - also triggered a fall in the peso.

There were ecstatic scenes at Mr Trump’s victory party in New York but across Manhattan the mood at Mrs Clinton’s gathering was funereal, with many supporters in tears.