HE once called Donald Trump “a conman”, but Mitt Romney now predicts that the current US president would “easily” win his party’s presidential nomination in 2020 and “solidly” win a second term.

Mr Romney, the GOP’s failed 2012 presidential nominee from Massachusetts, now a Republican Senate candidate in Utah, made the prediction on Thursday as he welcomed dozens of high-profile business and political leaders to a mountainside retreat in Utah.

As he has every year since 2012, Mr Romney played host to an invitation-only summit focused on the future of American leadership at home and abroad.

The future, he predicted, would feature Mr Trump as America’s leader at least for another six years.

“I think that not just because of the strong economy and the fact that people are going to see increasingly rising wages,” Mr Romney said, “but I think it’s also true because I think our Democrat friends are likely to nominate someone who is really out of the mainstream of American thought and will make it easier for a president who’s presiding over a growing economy.”

The remarks from Mr Romney marked a sharp reversal from his original impression of Mr Trump.

Mr Romney briefly served as the face of the so-called “Never Trump” movement before the 2016 election. He delivered a scathing speech in Utah before the 2016 election, calling Mr Trump “a conman” and “a fake.”

Yet Mr Romney’s criticism has softened since then. And now, in the midst of a Republican Senate primary campaign, the former Massachusetts governor appears to be embracing Mr Trump and his leadership role in the modern-day Republican Party.

He delivered the remarks on the first day of a three-day, closed-door summit in Utah’s mountains.

The Associated Press was allowed to listen to Mr Romney’s remarks during the event’s opening reception.

Dignitaries present at the summit included House Speaker Paul Ryan, billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner in addition to actor Seth Rogen, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and former Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle.

While there were many Trump sceptics in the crowd, a handful of Trump loyalists were in attendance as well, including short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.