Ed Miliband pulled out of a photoshoot in front of Brighton Pavilion because it looked too much like a mosque, aide reveals

Decision was proof of the Labour leadership's panic over immigration, according to accounts from Ed Miliband's former aides

(Press Picture)

Ed Miliband pulled out of a photo-shoot outside Brighton Pavilion because it looked too much like a mosque, an aide to the former Labour leader has revealed.

The party leadership feared it would anger voters who blamed the last Labour government for its failure to control mass immigration.

In an in-depth examination of how Labour slumped to its worst defeat in nearly 30 years, The Times said the decision to cancel the photo-shoot was evidence of the leadership's "almost comical neurosis" about immigration, describing it as "a moment straight out of The Thick of It".

The incident contradicts Mr Miliband's rejection of 'photo-op' politics pursued by Tony Blair and David Cameron.

The photo of Ed Miliband eating a bacon sandwich haunted the Labour leader for the remainder of the election campaign (Jeremy Selwyn)

"If you want the politician from central casting, it's just not me, it's the other guy," he said in a bid to counter damaging photos of him eating a bacon sandwich and endless depictions of him as Wallace out of Wallace and Gromit.

He added: "You can find people who are more square-jawed, more chiselled. Look less like Wallace. You could probably even find people who look better eating a bacon sandwich."

Aides also revealed to The Times how Mr Miliband was warned against eating a bacon sandwich in front of the cameras. Rachel Kinnock, a close aide and daughter of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, and Bob Roberts told him not to.