DONALD Trump has been stripped of an honorary degree and seen his status as a global business ambassador for Scotland rescinded as a backlash against the presidential candidate following his tirade against Muslims intensified.

The frontrunner to become the Republican nominee for the White House was stripped of his status as a 'GlobalScot' by Nicola Sturgeon, while Robert Gordon University, which awarded Mr Trump an honorary degree in 2010, said it would be repealed due to his recent statements.

Meanwhile, more than 378,000 people signed a petition calling for the tycoon to be banned from the UK following his backing for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" after a couple, believed to have been radicalised, opened fire and killed 14 people at a health centre in San Bernardino, California. The strength of support for the petition means that MPs will have to consider debating the issue in Parliament.

There is also a growing clamour for a boycott of Mr Trump's Scottish business interests, with discount website Itison apologising for promoting a deal at a Trump-owned hotel and promising not to offer any further deals.

Mr Trump remained unrepentant yesterday, as he hinted that he could run as an independent candidate for the White House in 2016 in a move that could split the Republican vote. The comment was interpreted as a thinly-veiled threat against the Republican leadership after a series of party elders lined up to condemn his remarks.

Writing on Twitter in response to the online petition calling for him to be denied entry to the UK, Mr Trump wrote that Britons backing the move "don't know what they're getting into".

Mr Trump, whose mother was born in Stornoway and has regularly spoken of his pride at his Scottish roots, became a 'GlobalScot' in 2006 when the honour was bestowed on him by Jack McConnell as Labour First Minister. It later emerged that Lord McConnell had attempted to create a unique 'platinum' membership of the scheme, a network of business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives with a connection to Scotland, exclusively for Mr Trump.

The American businessman went on to enjoy a friendly relationship with Alex Salmond, praising the SNP leader as an "amazing man" after the SNP-run Scottish Government intervened in controversial plans to build an Aberdeenshire golf course. However, the pair later fell out over proposals for an offshore wind farm development near to the resort.

The Scottish Government yesterday confirmed that Mr Trump's status as a GlobalScot would be revoked. A spokeswoman said: "Mr Trump’s recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland and the First Minister has decided his membership of the respected GlobalScot business network should be withdrawn with immediate effect."

Robert Gordon University bowed to growing pressure to remove an honorary degree, which it had bestowed in recognition of the billionaire's achievements as an entrepreneur and businessman.

A spokesman said that in the course of the current US election campaign, "Mr Trump has made a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university". "The university has therefore decided to revoke its award of the honorary degree," he added.

Following the announcement, Trish Murray, a campaigner at 38 Degrees which ran a petition calling for the move, claimed "a great victory for people power".

She added: "After 70,000 people signed the petition, Robert Gordon University quickly realised that honouring Donald Trump was completely out of step with the feelings of the UK public. Honours like this legitimise hate speech. Britain has just sent a clear message to Donald Trump - we won’t stand by your hateful views."

Itison yesterday advertised a discount for use at the Trump Turnberry resort. Within hours it had apologised for what it said was "an error of judgement on our part". Despite what it said was a long history of working with the resort, Itison said it would not feature any further deals at Trump Turnberry "given the current political situation".

George Osborne earlier told MPs that Mr Trump's comments about Muslims "fly in the face of the founding principles of the United States".

The Chancellor also described the presidential hopeful's views as "not welcome".

But he appeared to reject the calls for the tycoon to be barred from entering the UK amid accusations of 'hate preaching'. The Home Office has powers to ban speakers from overseas coming to the UK under the "unacceptable behaviours or extremism exclusion policy", but Mr Osborne said it was better to have a democratic argument "rather than trying to ban presidential candidates".

The White House has said Mr Trump's call should disqualify the former reality TV star from serving as president. Barack Obama alluded to the controversy over Mr Trump during a Washington speech to mark the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery.

Although he did not mention Mr Trump by name, the President received loud applause when he said: "Remember that our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others - regardless of what they look like or where they come from or what their last name is or what faith they practice."