Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, and Labour’s Diane Abbott described their parties’ conditions for backing an election on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show

Jeremy Corbyn’s allies were snubbed for a series of plum seats yesterday, further undermining the Labour leader caught in the crossfire of a furious internal battle over the next election.

Mr Corbyn is being pressed by a group of ultra-loyalists to commit Labour to an early vote — even if it means agreeing to Boris Johnson’s timetable — because they fear he faces another coup attempt. Those concerns are likely to be stoked by a series of selection battles fought over the weekend in which candidates of the left lost out.

Among those rejected was Katy Clark, Mr Corbyn’s former political secretary, who was defeated by Florence Eshalomi in the race to be Labour’s candidate in Vauxhall. Kate Osborne failed to be selected as