A Wirral councillor who was suspended after comparing a black Labour MP to the Ku Klux Klan has said Britons ‘love’ Donald Trump’s coronavirus strategy.

Cllr David Burgess-Joyce, who apologised earlier this year for his comments about Tottenham MP David Lammy, is still suspended from the Conservative group – but said he thinks Boris Johnson is learning from President Trump.

Cllr Burgess-Joyce was responding to a tweet at the weekend in which the President took aim at “Do Nothing Democrats” for working with “fake partners in the Lamestream Media” to create a negative impression of his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cllr Burgess-Joyce, a councillor for Greasby, Frankby and Irby, tweeted: “Unfortunately Mr President the old adage of ‘you’re never king in your own country’ sits well with the USA.

“In the UK we love what you’re doing and I know Boris is utilising some of your tactics. We await his return to continue the good fight with you.”

Asked where he saw the ‘love’ for President Trump on this side of the Atlantic, he said: “In fairness I do see support for him in this constituency, I acknowledge that in other parts of the Wirral it may be different.

“Some say they don’t like his style and some of the things he’s done, but if you listen to Dr [Anthony] Fauci [a key medical adviser to Donald Trump] he seems to think the President has done the right thing and I don’t think he has any great love for Trump.”

Cllr Burgess-Joyce said he was purely praising the President’s response to the Covid-19 crisis rather than his Presidency in general.

He said that 66% of the things Trump says are right but the other 34% were “a bit cringy”.

Explaining his views on Trump’s handling of the pandemic, Cllr Burgess-Joyce said: “He’s received a lot of criticism from Democrats, but he’s come in like the seventh cavalry and provided them with what they need.

“There have been awful scenes in New York with mass burial sites, it’s absolutely appalling to see, but Trump sent in the USNS Comfort [a hospital ship often used in military combat] to help them out.”

He added that Andrew Cuomo, the Democrat governor of New York, had praised the President in recent days.

Over the course of the epidemic Governor Cuomo has criticised the President, suggesting he was trying to blame state governor’s for his own failings.

Cllr Burgess-Joyce also pointed to strict flight restrictions in the US and was concerned to hear reports that many flights were still running in the UK.

His positive comments come amid widespread criticism of the President for his approach to the coronavirus crisis.

President Trump has faced accusations that he was too slow to implement a lockdown to protect citizens, was wrong to back protests against the lockdown in three US states and was reckless in suggesting the lockdown could be lifted by Easter Sunday.

President Trump was also condemned after describing Covid-19 as the ‘Chinese virus’.

Cllr Burgess-Joyce said he was worried by scenes of anti-lockdown protest in US states including Michigan and said Trump should be worried about the growth of such a protest movement.

On the President’s use of the phrase ‘Chinese virus’, Cllr Burgess-Joyce said: “At the end of the day it does come from China.

“But I think British politicians are more tactful and would not attribute a particular country to the virus.

“It’s not helpful, [but] it might play to his base.”