Actor Jeremy Strong has said Donald Trump calling those involved with his new film The Apprentice “human scum” is “all the more reason” cinemagoers should go and see it.

Ahead of the UK release of the biopic which depicts the presidential candidate’s rise as a New York property developer back in the 1970s, Strong told Sky News: “We all knew we were playing with fire getting involved with [this], but it also felt just supremely important and meaningful to try and understand and tell the story about how Donald Trump became who he is now.”

While Marvel actor Sebastian Stan plays Mr Trump, the Succession star plays notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, a mentor of sorts to Mr Trump, whom it’s claimed taught him power plays like denying everything and to “attack, attack, attack”.

“As a film I think it stands on its own but there are also things in it that I think a lot of the American public certainly don’t know about and, because of the stakes right now, it would behove everyone to become informed about where this is all coming from and how we got here,” Strong insisted.

Co-written by Vanity Fair journalist Gabriel Sherman who has penned biographies on both Mr Trump and Mr Cohn, not only does the film show the former president having cosmetic surgery and popping diet pills – most controversially it depicts him raping his first wife Ivana.

An incident based on an assault that was detailed in her divorce deposition – a claim she recanted years later.

Mr Trump has repeatedly denied the allegations.

After premiering at the Cannes Film Festival at the start of this year, lawyers for Mr Trump unsuccessfully filed a cease and desist notice to the team behind the film.

This week, in a 1am rant on his Truth Social app on Monday, Mr Trump called the film “FAKE and CLASSLESS”.

Referring to those involved as “human scum”, he hit out at the timing of the movie’s release, calling the film a “cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job” aimed at thwarting his re-election attempts.

“I feel very proud of being part of this film,” Strong said.

“It’s also unsettling to be kind of, you know, at the sharp end of the spear and intersecting with history and politics in this moment… for Trump to call us ‘human scum’ is a heavy thing but also, to me, the fact that he felt compelled to do that is just all the more reason why I think it’s essential for people to see it.”

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Strong claims Mr Trump’s early morning post is exactly what his character Mr Cohn would advise, “always attack, deny everything and never admit defeat”.

Strong explained: “The veracity of the film, that he’s attacking us, once you start to see the playbook and you realise what these tactics are, you see that it permeates literally everything that [Mr Trump] does.”

The Apprentice is released in the UK & Ireland on 18 October.

Sir Keir Starmer met Taylor Swift when he attended her concert in Wembley, Sky News understands.

It has emerged the prime minister and his family spoke to the pop star and her mum for 10 minutes and discussed the Southport stabbings.

It had not been clear previously if the two had met.

Sir Keir’s attendance at the concert has been the focus of increased scrutiny in recent weeks after Swift was given an enhanced police escort.

It is understood there was no discussion about the provision of security for the artist, which Downing Street said was an independent operational matter for the police.

Sir Keir and his family were given free tickets to the concert on 20 August, which were declared as required, and have since been paid back.

It came after the superstar cancelled gigs on her Eras Tour in Austria due to a terror threat, and the mass stabbing in Southport at a Taylor Swift dance class.

Sir Keir was invited to the August show by Universal Music, which is based in his constituency of Holborn and St Pancras.

He paid pack the cost of the tickets after a row over ministers accepting freebies dominated headlines during his first 100 days.

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The BBC is set to axe long-running interview show HARDtalk as part of plans to cut 130 news roles, as it looks to reduce costs.

HARDtalk will finish in March next year, the broadcaster said, after nearly three decades on air.

The hard-hitting interview programme, hosted by journalists including Stephen Sackur, runs Monday to Thursday and began in 1997.

Writing on X following the announcement, Sackur said it was “sad news” personally, but also “much more important, I think it’s depressing news for the BBC and all who believe in the importance of independent, rigorous, deeply-researched journalism”.

He added: “At a time when disinformation and media manipulation are poisoning public discourse, HARDtalk is unique – a long-form interview show with only one mission, to hold to account those who all too often avoid accountability in their own countries.”

Former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? fraudster Charles Ingram, the late Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez and Russian foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov are among the interviewees who have been questioned on the show over the years.

After a previous two-year freeze on the licence fee, the BBC has been under increasing financial pressure in recent years. It has projected its total deficit will increase to £492m for the 2024-25 financial year.

‘We are sharing some difficult decisions’

Other proposed changes include moving production of the overnight programme on 5Live from news to the BBC’s Nations and Local teams, domestic radio taking World Service summaries overnight, and combining Radio 5Live and Radio 2 news production.

BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness also said the bespoke news service for the Asian Network would be closed, with the station instead taking Newsbeat bulletins, while also commissioning a new locally made current affairs show.

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The latest cuts come after the broadcaster announced last year that it was reducing flagship show Newsnight to 30 minutes and axing about half of its 60 jobs.

In an email sent to staff, Ms Turness said 185 roles would be closed, with 55 new roles opened – a cut of 130 roles overall.

“I want to acknowledge that this is a tough day, when we are sharing some difficult decisions we have had to make to operate within our budgets,” she said.

Ms Turness said more than 40% of a planned £24m saving from the BBC News budget would come from “non-staff measures including reductions to spend on contracts, suppliers, distribution and physical buildings”.

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) general secretary Michelle Stanistreet described the cuts as a “damaging assault on journalism and news at a time when the UK needs greater plurality and diversity of news, and trust in journalism is under attack at home and abroad”.

Some of the decisions “represent comparatively modest savings”, she said, “yet will disproportionately undermine the breadth and range of news content the BBC currently provides”.