Comparing Dr Mahathir Mohamad to Steve Bannon, the US ultra-right propagandist who created conspiracy theories to get Donald Trump elected, Wilfred Madius Tangau, who accused the ex-premier of “spewing venom”, urged voters to defang him for good.

The Tuaran MP said Mahathir, who lost his deposit in the last general election, has morphed into “Malaysia’s Steve Bannon In his desperation to fight off his political irrelevance.”