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Jeremy Corbyn was urged to listen to voters rather than just shout them tonight - by a former deputy Labour leader.

Harriet Harman launched a thinly-veiled attack on the current boss as she urged the party to learn the lessons from previous election disasters.

Labour trails the Tories by an average of 16 points in latest opinion polls, with ongoing backbench rumblings about Mr Corbyn’s performance and leadership style.

Ms Harman became an MP during Labour’s wilderness years in the 1980s - and urged the Labour chief to study how the party returned to government.

“We did recognise that if you just shout at people they’re not interested, we’d got to start listening to people,” she said.

(Image: PA)

“It’s no good thinking that the public have got to change, we had to wake up and realise the fact that we needed to change.

“The idea that people would just get fed up with the Tories - well, they had got fed up with the Tories, but they needed to trust us.

“And the idea that if people suffered, they would turn to Labour - not unless they thought Labour was led by somebody who would actually solve their problems rather than make them worse.

“I hope we will learn the lessons a lot quicker than we did last time.”

Labour’s current struggles have “painful echoes” of 30 years ago, warned Ms Harman.

The party had to learn that marches and demonstrations - of the kind Mr Corbyn regularly supports - were not enough and winning power was the only way to change people’s lives, she declared.

Speaking at a Westminster lunch, she reflected on the “hard times” Labour faced when she entered Parliament in 1982.

“Labour was absolutely in the wilderness. In fact there are very painful echoes now of what the situation was then,” said Ms Harman.

“Then, the party was absolutely tearing itself apart.”

Moderate Labour MPs have faced demands for deselection and been hit with online abuse.

The targeting is similar to barbs dished out three decades ago, she warned.

“No wonder the local people thought we weren’t interested in them. If you fight amongst yourselves, people think you are not interested in them,” said Ms Harman.

(Image: Carl Court) (Image: Getty)

“That is a painful echo of now, we were tearing ourselves apart.”

She also warned against taking false comfort from areas where Labour’s vote was holding up.

“People pointed to where we were strong and reassured ourselves that things were going well - they weren’t, because even though we were building up some strength in Labour areas, the marginals were turning themselves into Tory strongholds.

“We had a quarter of a million people on the people’s march for jobs and yet the Tories continued to get elected. We have got to learn that as well.”

Privately-educated Countess’ niece Ms Harman, who as acting leader following the 2015 election defeat passed the Labour reins to Mr Corbyn, aimed a shot at his own privileged upbringing.

“It was actually a surprise to me to hand over the leadership to somebody who was older and posher than myself,” she quipped.