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Labour's deputy leader admitted he was wrong to doubt Jeremy Corbyn.

Tom Watson was “very concerned” for the party's direction as Labour MPs tried to oust Mr Corbyn in the aftermath of last year' EU referendum .

But 15 months later, he agrees Mr Corbyn confounded his critics with his performance in June's election he smashed expectations.

“The only time I’ve really spoken out is when there was the vote of no confidence. I was just very concerned at the time. I didn’t see how we could go on when 80% of my colleagues had voted to no-confidence the leader,” said Mr Watson.

“It struck me that was a point where you couldn’t derive authority. But I was wrong about that, wasn’t I?”

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Meanwhile, Labour's top official risked reigniting a row with the party leadership after highlighting party losses at the general election.

General secretary Iain McNicol reminded activists Labour lost six seats it held, despite Mr Corbyn's widely-praised campaign and the party winning 32 extra MPs.

Speaking at a Community steelworkers' union reception, Mr McNicol said: “We lost six seats at this general election just passed.

“We went backwards compared to the Tories in a good number of seats.”

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Moderate MP Caroline Flint, a former Minister, added: “For all the things we can take from the election in 2017 – and there were some good points - we didn't win, and that means we haven't won an election since 2005, and we have a Tory Government.”

Mr Corbyn, writing in the Observer, admitted: “We didn't succeed in winning a Labour majority and we need to do more to build trust and support.

“But we achieved the biggest increase in Labour's vote since 1945, and the Conservatives lost their majority.

“The election campaign demonstrated the thirst for real change across Britain.”

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

Labour's private polling suggested at the start of the June 8 election campaign the party was set for a bloodbath, losing 73 seats to end with a rump of 157 MPs in the House of Commons, revealed campaigns supremo Andrew Gwynne at a conference fringe.

The party's eventual tally of 262 - a gain of 32 - showed that the key lesson of the 2017 election was "don't underestimate Jeremy Corbyn ", he added.

Research shows the Tories probably had one of their best results among the working class in the general election but people on low incomes were still more likely to vote for Labour,.

Both parties increased their support among low income voters by about 8% but neither made a dramatic breakthrough at the expense of the other, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation study.

(Image: REX/Shutterstock)

Low income voters were "pulled in different directions" by concerns over living standards and identity.

Mr Gwynne, who is shadow local government secretary as well as co-chairman of elections and campaigns, acknowledged that Labour has a job to do to regain the trust of some of its traditional voters on issues like immigration.

"I accept that over a long period of time - it's not something that's happened just over the last couple of years - we have seemed to be distant from some of those communities," he said.

"We have got a job to do to convince those communities that (with) the policies the Labour Party puts forward on poverty pay, rights at work and environmental protection, it is the Labour Party, not the Conservative Party, that speaks for working people.”