Trump expresses regret at saying the wrong thing and causing 'personal pain'

Donald Trump has relaunched his struggling presidential campaign with a surprising apology.

“Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing,” a rally in North Carolina on Thursday night. “I have done that. And, believe it or not, I regret it. I do regret it. Particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”

Trump's apparent contrition comes in sharp contrast to his usual abrasive and confrontational style or oratory. Also unusual was his heavy use of a teleprompter.

Trump’s closely watched standing in opinion polls has plummeted after he cast aspersions on the parents of a Muslim soldier who died serving in the US army.

During the speech on Thursday he seemingly acknowledged for the first time the damage such incidents were doing to his election standing.

“Too much is at stake for us to be consumed by these issues,” he told the unusually subdued crowd at the Charlotte convention centre.

“As you know I am not a politician,” he added, to initial cheers. “I have never wanted to learn the language of the insiders, and I’ve never been politically correct – it takes far too much time, and can often make it more difficult to achieve total victory.”

Contrition is not something normally associated with outspoken US presidential candidate, whose stilted performance was made all the more unexpected by this week’s appointment of outspoken Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon to take overall charge of the campaign. 

Political commentators have said the speech marks a turning point in Trump's strategy, an attempt to draw a line under past failures and shift the focus on to the weaknesses of his political rival, Hilary Clinton, instead.