‘BUILD the wall” became a rallying cry during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and yesterday it reared its ugly head again when the US president-elect confirmed that a wall would still be built between the US and Mexico, although it could include fencing.

Trump also said in an interview with CBS that he would deport or jail up to three million illegal migrants initially – targeting those with criminal records, such as gang members or drug dealers.

The Republican’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton shocked many who had expected her to win. Trump will take over at the White House on January 20, when Barack Obama steps down after two terms in office.

There are about 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, including many from Mexico. Trump pledged during the election campaign to overturn amnesties introduced by Obama, and strictly enforce immigration laws, deporting those without correct documents.

In his first major interview with a US broadcaster since the election, Trump said: “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records – gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million – we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.”

Asked about his plans for the Mexican border, he said “a wall is more appropriate” in some parts but “there could be some fencing”.

He added that other undocumented migrants would be assessed once the border was secured.

However, another top Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan, said yesterday that border security was a greater priority than mass deportation.

“We are not planning on erecting a deportation force,” he told CNN. “I think we should put people’s minds at ease.”

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage became the first British politician to meet America’s new president-elect.

He has hinted that UK ministers have been sounding him out about dealing with Trump.

The acting leader of Ukip also revealed that Trump’s close advisers had “reservations” about Theresa May’s government. However, he insisted he would act as a bridge between Downing Street and the White House if called upon.

Trump and Farage met at Trump Tower in New York, where they spent more than an hour discussing the president-elect’s victory, global politics and the status of Brexit, according to Ukip.

Asked on Fox News why the president-elect should meet the PM, Farage said: “I think he has got to meet her. Mrs May’s team have been quite rude about Trump, so there are some fences to be mended.”

Downing Street moved to play down the significance of the Ukip leader’s meeting with Trump.

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A spokesman for the PM said that No 10 had “been consistent that Mr Farage has no role” in the government’s relationship with the incoming US administration.

There will be no taking back some of the remarks made by senior Tories about Trump – comments Farage described as “insulting” and which he said were responsible for May being only 10th on the president-elect’s list of foreign leaders to call after his shock win last week.

Farage’s remarks came after it emerged the PM’s joint chief of staff, Fiona Hill, posted online last December the somewhat infantile: “Donald Trump is a chump.”

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was scathing about Trump’s attitude to Muslims while he was mayor of London last December.

He said: “I think Donald Trump is clearly out of his mind if he thinks that’s a sensible way to proceed, to ban people going to the US in that way, or any country.

“I think he’s betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of the United States.”

Farage refused to say if he had had any contact with Cabinet figures about his ties to the incoming Republican president.

“I am not going to go into whatever private phone calls I may, or may not, have had with individual ministers,” he told Sky News.

And, in a swipe at No 10 officials who have dismissed his links to Trump, he said: “It would appear that the apparatchiks in Downing Street keep saying very negative things about me. I’d have thought that’s just a little bit short-sighted, frankly.

“I would have thought, in the national interest, they perhaps ought to bury their personal enmity towards me and we ought to have a constructive conversation.”

Farage said members of the president-elect’s inner circle were concerned about unflattering comments made by British Cabinet ministers, though Trump told him he had a “nice” phone call with May.

“He said he had a nice conversation, although some of his team had reservations about what members of the Cabinet have said during the election," he said. "Believe you me, his team are conscious of the comments."

He said he “stressed the importance of the Anglo-American relationship” at the meeting and asked Trump to return a bust of Sir Winston Churchill to the White House Oval Office, said a Ukip spokesman.

The statue was removed under Barack Obama’s administration and Trump was said to have “expressed excitement” over the idea. Farage said he had been “especially pleased” by Trump’s “very positive reaction” to the idea of the bust returning.

Trump’s spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said the meeting had been “very productive”.