Corbyn was still married to his first wife, but they had separated

Jeremy Corbyn had a 1970s 'fling' with fellow Left-wing MP Diane Abbott who he has now appointed to his Shadow Cabinet, it emerged today.

The Labour leader - who has been married three times - romanced Miss Abbott after the break-up of his first marriage, a source close to Mr Corbyn confirmed.

Their affair is said to have included a tour of East Germany on his motorbike when he was a councillors and she was a young civil liberties campaigner.

Their sexual relationship emerged after Mr Corbyn was criticised for failing to step in after Miss Abbott ‘confronted’ another woman Labour MP.

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Lovers: Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott, pictured in London at the time of their relationship in the late 1970s, allegedly 'made no secret of their affair' and went on holiday together

TIMELINE: CORBYN'S LOVE LIFE 1974: First up the aisle with Jeremy Corbyn was 24-year-old academic Jane Chapman. They met while working on Labour’s election campaign. 1979: Fed up with coming second to politics, his habit of eating cold baked beans from the tin and never once being taken out for dinner, Jane Chapman left Corbyn. ‘The problem is that his politics are to the exclusion of other kinds of human activities, such as going out for a meal, to the cinema or buying clothes,’ she said recently. Mid-1980s: He met second wife, Claudia Bracchitta, an exiled Chilean designer, while listening to a speech by old friend Ken Livingstone and they later marry. 1999: After three sons, Corbyn split from his second wife. One reason for the marriage’s failure, she said, was disagreement about whether son Ben should go to grammar school. Ben ended up going to Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Barnet. 2013: Jeremy secretly married Laura Alvarez, a coffee importer 20 years his junior, in her native Mexico. Two years on, he’s leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition. Advertisement

Witnesses told The Times that Miss Abbott interrupted and criticised MP Jess Phillips for asking a ‘sanctimonious’ question about the lack of women in senior positions in Mr Corbyn’s top team.

According to the newspaper Miss Abbott told Miss Phillips on Monday night: 'You're not the only feminist in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party)' as Mr Corbyn watched in silence.

Miss Abbott, who has been appointed shadow international development secretary, was not reprimanded by Mr Corbyn for attacking the colleague who questioned his commitment to sexual equality, it is claimed.

The Hackney MP has been a staunch supporter of Mr Corbyn’s campaign, and it emerged yesterday that the pair had a brief relationship in the late 1970s when he was a councillor in Haringey, North London.

Mr Corbyn was separated from his first wife, Jane Chapman, a fellow Labour councillor he had married in 1974.

Professor Chapman said she married Corbyn for his ‘honesty’ and ‘principles’, but admitted his intense dedication to Left-wing politics eventually became too much.

A party colleague of Mr Corbyn and his former wife, both 66, said Professor Chapman had hoped they would be reconciled but believed his burgeoning relationship with Miss Abbott, 61, made their divorce inevitable.

Still close: The alleged former lovers sat next to each other on the Labour front bench in the House of Commons on Monday

At the time of their relationship, Mr Corbyn was separated from his first wife, Jane Chapman, and his affair with Miss Abbott, pictured with Mr Corbyn in July, is said to have made their divorce 'inevitable'

Mr Corbyn’s first wife had also previously claimed that he was known to eat cold baked beans out of a tin and never took her out for out for dinner in their five years of marriage.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves home this morning as news of his 1970s relationship with Diane Abbott emerged

‘He was out most evenings because when we weren’t at meetings he would go to the Labour headquarters and do photocopying - in those days you couldn’t print because there were no computers’, she recalled in an interview.

Mr Corbyn ‘had quite a good appetite, but he didn’t mind what the food was because he couldn’t be bothered to give it the time. So he would just grab a can of beans and eat it straight from the can’, Prof Chapman said.

Miss Phillips said after her clash with Miss Abbott: ‘It’s a shame there was not more sorority. We women need to stick together.’

Miss Abbott was working at the National Council for Civil Liberties when she is believed to have begun her relationship with Mr Corbyn. Friends said the couple made no secret of their affair and Miss Abbott regularly stayed at Mr Corbyn’s home.

The new Labour leader was elected as MP for Islington North in 1983 and four years later Miss Abbott won the neighbouring constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, becoming the first black woman MP.

Mr Corbyn married for the second time in 1987, to Claudia Bracchitta, having met the exiled Chilean designer while listening to a speech by Ken Livingstone – then leader of Greater London Council.

The pair had three sons. Their middle son, Seb, helped run his leadership campaign and works for hard-Left Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell.

In 1999 Corbyn split from his second wife and one reason for the marriage’s failure, she said, was disagreement about how son Ben should be schooled.

She wanted him to go to a grammar but Mr Corbyn was adamant the child should be placed in the comprehensive. His wife is said to have complained her husband was ‘first the politician and second the parent’.

Wives: Mr Corbyn's first wife was Professor Jane Chapman, left, who divorced after five years, after a second marriage ended in divorce the Labour leader he married Laura Alvarez, right on Saturday, who he met at a Latin American support group

Mr Corbyn is now married to Laura Alvarez, who he met at a Latin American support group. They married two years ago and live together in his flat in Islington, North London.

His Mexican has made one major appearance next to her husband but has no plans to continue this.

The 46-year-old, who runs a small fair trade company importing coffee, has been nowhere to be seen since Mr Corbyn enjoyed his first full day as leader.

Last month, The Mail on Sunday revealed that she was selling imported £10-a-jar coffee, which was grown by Mexican farmers paid less than the country’s minimum wage.