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A ‘Keep Corbyn’ rally taking place in Newcastle on Sunday sold out within 48 hours - even though the Labour leader will not be taking part.

It has been organised at the Centre for Life by Momentum Tyne and Wear where the main speaker will be Jeremy Corbyn’s chief political ally, the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.

At a similar rally last week in London, he caused controversy by describing those plotting to remove the Labour leader as “f*****g useless”.

Asked whether Mr McDonnell had been asked to watch his language in Newcastle, Ed Whitby of Momentum Tyne and Wear said simply: “John is more feisty than Jeremy.”

(Image: Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire)

The event takes place at the end of yet another extraordinary week for Mr Corbyn during which it was eventually decided his name should be on the leadership ballot despite having negligible backing from his MPs in the Parliamentary Labour Party.

But his support among party members is still formidable and many belong to Momentum, a grassroots campaign group formed to support Corbyn after his leadership win last September.

Mr Whitby said: “The response has been amazing. Basically, we released the tickets and they were gone in 48 hours, before we actually sent out the official invite. That really surprised us.”

He said word got out after he wrote of the event on his Facebook page and he was inundated with requests.

“There were 500 tickets - and I think we could easily have sold 1,000,” he said.

(Image: 2016 Getty Images)

They had thought of holding a ‘spillover’ event outside for those who could not get a ticket, similar to that held at the Tyne Theatre for Mr Corbyn last year during his campaign to be leader.

However that was knocked back by the Centre for Life.

The event is due to start at 5pm and last for about two hours. As well as Mr McDonnell, speakers will include Mr Whitby, Fire Brigade Union general secretary Matt Wrack and Northumberland councillor and Unite activist Laura Pidcock

She said: “I’ll be talking about unity within the party, saying why it’s important to be loyal to Jeremy. Now is not the time for any type of disloyalty.

“I have been a Labour party member since I was 15 and I’m now 28 and I’ve always been loyal to whatever leader has served me. It just so happens that the current leader shares the policies I have which is what makes me even more enthusiastic.”

Others speakers and details are being confirmed.

“If people turn up 15 minutes early there might be a chance to speak to Mr McDonnell,” said Mr Whitby.

Mr Whitby added: “People in the North East are pro-Jeremy Corbyn. Across the North East there is massive support for him.

“And the fact that so many are turning up even though Jeremy won’t be there is interesting - there’s a lot interest in Labour’s policies and hearing John speak about them.”

The Shadow Chancellor is also going to speak at an event in Sunderland on Monday morning at a venue that has yet to be decided.