Jeremy Corbyn has met with the head of MI6 for the first time in anticipation of a snap election triggered by the collapse of the Brexit negotiations, The Telegraph has learnt.

The Labour leader recently met with Alex Younger, the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, during which the importance of the agency’s work and the severity of the threats facing Britain were made clear to him.

A Whitehall official with knowledge of the meeting said: “The feeling was that the time had come for Mr Corbyn to become acquainted with the workings of the intelligence establishment.”

According to a senior security source, the Labour leader met Mr Younger at the organisation's headquarters in Vauxhall, south London, where he received a detailed briefing on the service's organisational and operational structure.

They said the meeting was an "acquaintance" session designed to give the Labour leader a better understanding of the challenges facing Britain's overseas intelligence agency.

They added that Mr Younger had been keen to explain that MI6 was subjected to rigorous political oversight, and that its operations were undertaken within a strict legal framework at the behest of the democratically-elected government of the day.