Jeremy Corbyn has defied critics questioning his ability to win elections by storming to victory in the 2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year competition, winning the prize for a record sixth time.

A week after Labour’s triumphant win in the Oldham by-election Mr Corbyn again demonstrated his popularity with voters by heading off stiff competition from the SNP’s Stuart McDonald.

He was trailing with minutes to go until his close ally Diane Abbott took to Twitter to pull in the decisive votes – a repeat of her efforts in getting him on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership election in June.

Keith Flett, from the Beard Liberation Front, congratulated Mr Corbyn on another fine victory but expressed concern at the way the Labour leader treated his beard.

“He trims his beard rather too much for our liking but you can kind of understand it at this time of year because if you didn’t you might look like Santa,” Mr Flett told The Independent.

But he nonetheless praised Mr Corbyn's passion for beards: "He has always been keen to promote his beard and I think he sees it as being a distinctive part of his persona; less so now because there’s so many other MPs with beards."

The result was announced live on BBC 2's Daily Politics show (Daily Politics, BBC 2)

He said the cross-bench peer Lord Hylton would easily win Beard of the Year if he and his colleagues in the House of Lords "knew anything about how to vote," praising his beard but also taking a swipe at the lack of democratic culture in the second chamber.

"Some peers don't have a great idea about this voting thing," he said.

Lord Hylton has the best beard in Parliament, according to Keith Flett (BBC Parliament)

He urged peers to get involved next year, saying the competition played an important role in "challenging how people in public life appear and that they shouldn't all be clean shaven, white men in suits".

Mr Corbyn, the only MP to win the prize more than once, won 41 per cent of the 3,000 votes cast, with Mr McDonald a close second on 39 per cent.

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The Tories were represented by Stephen Crabb – the first Cabinet minister with a beard for more than a century – coming third with 9 per cent of the vote and Labour MP Paul Flynn finishing with 4.5 per cent.

The victory was hard-fought - with Mr McDonald and Ms Abbott campaigning right to the end: