He has been savaged by everyone from the right-wing press to members of his own Parliamentary Labour Party. And now Prof Stephen Hawking has become the latest to have a pop at Islington North MP and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The physicist and Cambridge University academic told The Times today: “I regard Corbyn as a disaster. His heart is in the right place and many of his policies are sound but he has allowed himself to be portrayed as a left-wing extremist. I think he should step down for the sake of the party.”

It comes after a YouGov poll found that 36 per cent of Labour members think Mr Corbyn should step down as leader before the general election. But 52pc said they would definitely vote for him in any leadership election.

Reporting by Press Association