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Jeremy Corbyn has extended Labour's lead over the Tories to eight points – the largest gap in any poll for five months.

The poll by Survation, which was the only company to accurately forecast June’s General Election result, puts Labour on 45 per cent, with the Conservatives trailing on 37 per cent, the Mail on Sunday reports.

The findings will be greeted with dismay inside No 10.

Downing Street had taken heart from the fact that despite Theresa May’s multiplying political problems – her disastrous conference speech, the loss of Sir Michael Fallon from her Cabinet in the sex harassment furore and the pornography row hanging over First Secretary Damian Green – it had not fed through into a significant lead for Mr Corbyn.

(Image: PA)

A fortnight ago, Mrs May’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, tweeted after a poll was published giving the Tories a four-point lead: "When you are still at your desk 17 hours after you arrived at work, this is the kind of news you want to see."

A previous Survation poll, on October 5, gave Labour a six point lead.

The findings came as former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern yesterday described Mrs May "out of her depth" and that Mr Corbyn was "beginning to look like he may be the next Prime Minister".

Speaking in Dublin, Mr Ahern said: "They [the Tories] have a weak Prime Minister who is only there because the other headbangers who were on the Brexit side were fighting each other at the time. She came up the middle.

"I feel sorry for her because she is totally out of her depth."