Emma Thompson turned down a date from Donald Trump

Donald Trump and Emma Thompson. Photos / Getty

Emma Thompson has revealed that she once turned down a request for a date from Donald Trump.

Years before he became president he invited her to stay at Trump Tower and have dinner with him, the Nanny McPhee actress said according to Daily Mail.

She told Swedish TV she had been in the US filming the 1998 release Primary Colors and had just received divorce papers from her marriage to Kenneth Branagh, which lasted from 1989 to 1995.

She said: 'The phone rings in my trailer, which it's never done before, so it's like a moose had just entered my trailer. I lift up the phone... "Hi, it's Donald Trump here." I said, "Really? Can I help you?"

'He said, "I wonder if I could offer you some accommodation in one of my Trump Towers, they're really comfortable. I think we would get on very well, maybe we could have dinner some time.'"

The actress added: 'I didn't know what to do with myself. I was on my own and I just said, "Erm, I'll get back to you.'"

Meanwhile, a row erupted in Washington last night after new claims that US spies may have eavesdropped on Mr Trump's private conversations.

Devon Nunes, Republican chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, said communications by Mr Trump and his presidential transition team were swept up inadvertently during surveillance on foreign targets.

He infuriated Democrat committee colleagues by telling the president about this before them, but Mr Trump said it was vindication of his claims that his predecessor Barack Obama ordered him targeted in a 'wiretapping' operation.