Jeremy Corbyn used his position in Parliament to call for the “complete rehabilitation” of Leon Trotsky, it has emerged despite dismissing concerns about hard-Left entryism as “nonsense”.

In 1988, the Labour leader – then a backbencher – demanded the Marxist revolutionary and other communists have their achievements formally recognised by the Russian state.

Mr Corbyn was one of a series of prominent left-wingers who put their name to an Early Day Motion, a form of parliamentary petition with no standing in law, which made the call.