Mitch McConnell to step down as Republican leader in US Senate

Kentucky senator, 82 and the longest-serving Senate leader in history, will step aside as minority leader at end of this year

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will step down as Republican leader in the US Senate at the end of this year, a move that will shake up US politics yet more in a tumultuous election cycle.

McConnell is 82 and the longest-serving Senate leader in history. He is also a highly divisive figure in a bitterly divided America and the subject of fierce speculation about his health after recent scares in public.