Jeremy Corbyn rally cancelled over fears it would be 'sabotaged' by corrupt ex-Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman

Jeremy Corbyn’s final showcase rally before Labour’s leadership election result on Saturday has been quietly cancelled amid fears it was going to be sabotaged by the disgraced corrupt mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman.

Up to a thousand Corbyn supporters were due to attend the “Super-Tuesday” rally in Mile End, east London, tonight but The Independent has learnt the leader’s campaign team were alerted the disgraced ex-mayor was planning to attend and exploit it for his own publicity.

With the possibility of Rahman, who was expelled from office by an Election Court judge last year, being photographed alongside Mr Corbyn, the leader’s campaign HQ decided to change the venue and nature of tonight’s proceedings.

It had been planned for the Water Lily centre, a large but drab conference centre that has previously staged rabble rousing-rallies for Rahman and George Galloway.

But over the past 24 hours, there was a series of frantic discussions between Mr Corbyn’s HQ and Tower Hamlets Momentum about the risk.

There was even talk of placing bouncers on the door to block the possible entry of Rahman and his group of Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors.

However, that strategy was seen as impractical and the change of details was announced in a Facebook post this morning – and then spun as “due to popular demand”.

It read: “Change of Venue for Jeremy's end of campaign event. Thank you all for registering for the last event of the campaign.

“The Jeremy for Labour campaign have now decided to hold two events instead of one central rally.

“Due to popular demand from party members we have decided to super-charge 'Super Tuesday' to ensure we maximise Jeremy's mandate to take our party forward.”

It added that Mr Corbyn would now man phone banks at Unite’s HQ in Holborn, central London, while shadow Chancellor John McDonnell would stage a similar event in Clapham, south of the Thames.

“Please do join us and help us make the last night count. There will be prizes and giveaways for the most calls made.

“Apologies for the late notice of the venue change.”

The decision is being seen as a final disgrace for Lutfur Rahman who is said to be an enthusiastic backer of Mr Corbyn and whom he and his allies see as the chance to re-join Labour and revive their careers.

Rahman was ousted from office and banned from holding any public position for five years after Election Court judge Richard Mawrey QC found him guilty of several counts of electoral malpractice in April 2015.

He had been the elected mayor of the east London borough since October 2010 after having been expelled from Labour and standing as an Independent.

During his time in power he styled himself as Britain’s first directly elected Muslim mayor.

Opinion on him divided between those who saw him as the socialist victim of Right-wing Islamophobia, and others who long suspected he and his supporters were abusing their office through misuse of public money such as grants.

Despite today's decision, there have been strong links between him and the current Labour leadership.

Mr Corbyn himslef has previously been photographed next to Rahman at various demonstrations and other events.

Momentum founder Jon Lansman, a former resident of Tower Hamlets, was a vocal backer of Rahman for many years, as was Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey. Mr Corbyn’s director of communications, Seamas Milne, has also been supportive, writing in 2014 that "no wrongdoing has been uncovered".

But although he still has sympathisers at the top of Labour HQ, a source within Tower Hamlets Momentum told The Independent: “Jeremy's campaign team were worried he could be upstaged, but there’s no way we were going to let Lutfur try and exploit him to try and resurrect his career. We couldn’t let this event be sabotaged. We’ve had enough of Lutfur and his lot."

Since his disgrace, Rahman has been chased for hundreds of thousands of pounds of legal costs and declared himself bankrupt.

Many British Bangladeshis in east London believe he has shamed their community, while others still regard him as a hero who is the victim of an “Establishment stitch up”.

He has tried to maintain a grip over the Tower Hamlets Independent Group councillors, but factions have emerged and some have split to form a separate group of independents.

Special commissioners appointed by the Department for Communities and Local Government have been overseeing much of Tower Hamlets council since 2014 and are expected to stay in place for the foreseeable future despite the election of Labour mayor John Biggs in June last year.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn's campaign did not deny discussions about the Rahman risk had taken place but claimed it was "completely untrue" to say the event was cancelled because of that.

He said: "The rally has been rearranged due to the oversubscription of the event, coupled with the potential extending duration of [today's] NEC meeting, which meant that Jeremy may not be able to make the original timings. Therefore, so we do not disappoint our supporters the campaign has chosen to instead focus on our 'Super Tuesday' phonebanking drive given it is the last night before polls close.”