Jeremy Corbyn has suffered another leadership blow after claims that Labour rebels want him to fall flat on his face over Brexit have surfaced.

Clare Coogan Cole, daughter of comedian Steve Coogan, who works for deputy Labour leader Tom Watson, revealed to The Daily Express that his team wanted Mr Corbyn to fail at this year's general election.

In a further embarrassment to the Labour leader, key Corbynista Diane Abbott contradicted her party's position on leaving the EU for the fifth time, saying she was open to any means whereby Britain could retain the benefits of Single Market and Customs Union membership.

However, unearthed footage leaked to The Daily Express shows recorded footage of the Labour leader criticising the EU's treatment of Greece during the 2015 bailout crisis, which is likely to damage his credibility on the issue increasingly.

They hoped he would fail

Mr Coogan told the New European Journal that while his daughter was campaigning for Tom Watson in the East Midlands during the general election, she phoned her father to complain about the way other activists were behaving. According to the comedian, many campaigners dreaded one of his TV appearances and hoped that he would fail. An ally of Mr Watson has refuted the allegations.

The news comes as established figures in the Labour Party demand their leader soften his Brexit position, particularly in regards to Single Market membership.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell contradicted Mr Corbyn's position of quitting the Single Market, saying that all options are on the table.

Peers like former leader Lord Neil Kinnock and former shadow Justice Secretary Charlie Falconer have both urged their leader to call for the UK to remain in the Single Market, alongside the party's former chairman, Dave Watts.

Lord Kinnock told The Observer that his party should support Chancellor Philip Hammond's proposal for a transitional deal that lasts until 2022.

This would result in Britain remaining a member of the European Economic Area (EEA), which Norway and Iceland are both members of. A group of Labour MPs have called on their Conservative colleagues to join them in blocking a hard Brexit.

A 'jobs first' Brexit

But in another disastrous interview for Ms Abbott, the shadow Home Secretary attempted to clarify her party's position on the issue by saying Labour campaigned for a 'jobs first' Brexit. She added that Mr Corbyn wants to achieve the best EU exit by looking at ends and not structures.

This is despite shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner saying remaining in the Single Market and the Customs Union would be a disaster. He added that the Norway option would leave the UK as a vassal state and that a Turkish-style agreement, whereby they are members of the Customs Union, would give Britain the same asymmetrical relationship with the EU third world countries have.

Throughout Labour's campaign promoting the UK's membership of the EU, Mr.

Corbyn said he wants to build a Europe that champions human rights and environmentalism. Yet prior to taking his current position as Labour leader, he was filmed speaking to Telesur, a pan-Latin American broadcaster sponsored by numerous governments, that many trade unions affiliated to his party were worried about the trading bloc's treatment of Greece.

TTIP would hinder working conditions

He said that criticism of the EU does not lie solely with nationalists and xenophobes, but with the left too. He added that the trading bloc's proposed trade deal with the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), would hinder working conditions across both sides of the Atlantic.

In other stored footage, Mr Corbyn told a BBC reporter during the 1990s that European bureaucracy made the EU altogether unaccountable, adding that it is a serious issue. He said powers had been transferred from national parliaments to the EU Commission and the Council of Ministers.