Donald Trump apologise as Party Figures abandon him over boast tape from 2005 (Watch)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has apologised after a tape emerged in which he brags about being able to grope women because of his fame.

The Republican presidential hopeful initially said he was sorry “if anyone was offended” by the “locker room banter” following the release of the 2005 recording.

A backlash which has seen party colleagues desert him has made Mr Trump issue a more forthright video apology in which he said: “I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them.

“Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, I was wrong and I apologise.

“I pledge to be a better man tomorrow and will never, ever let you down.”

But Mr Trump also sought to dismiss the revelations as “nothing more than a distraction” from other issues facing the country and renewed his attack on his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton ahead of the second presidential debate on Sunday.

Here is my statement. pic.twitter.com/WAZiGoQqMQ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2016