You can listen to this investigation on this week’s episode of The Slow Newscast – What’s Left?
It’s a cold Saturday evening in November. Inside the brutalist building of UCL Institute of Education in central London, a small group of committed socialists are gathering for a rally.
At the back of the stage in one of the lecture theatres there’s an enormous screen with a question: How can Your Party be a party of working class struggle and socialism?
Even though the room is only two-thirds full, there is a sea of red flags and a sense of rousing optimism among the mostly young attendees.
The Your Party in the question is the fledgling new political movement led by Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader and Zarah Sultana, a former Labour MP who resigned from the party in early July.
Both Corbyn and Sultana appear prominently on the flyer for the weekend. But neither is there in person. Sultana is 300 miles away addressing Durham Miners’ Association and sends a recorded video message. Corbyn gets barely a mention all evening.
The party has stumbled though its launch, hobbled by reports of factionalism, feuds and financial disarray
It’s been a fraught first few months for Your Party. In early July Sultana blindsided Corbyn by taking to X to announce the party’s inception. It took the pair three weeks to release a joint statement urging people to sign up.
Since then the party has stumbled through its launch, hobbled by reports of factionalism, feuds and evidence of financial disarray.
In the meantime, the Greens, buoyed by their new leader, Zack Polanski, have seen their polling numbers rise, aided by a number of former Corbyn advisers and supporters.
How did the wheels come off Your Party so quickly? And can it recover?
Next weekend in Liverpool members will gather in person and online for the party’s founding conference. Corbyn has promised “a huge conference… bringing together thousands of founding members, tens of thousands taking part online. One member one vote”.
The two leaders are understood not to have been on speaking terms for much of the summer
The programme has yet to be published. The two leaders are understood not to have been on speaking terms for much of the summer, although Your Party told The Observer Corbyn and Sultana have spoken in recent days.
Meanwhile the party has been embroiled in a row over £800,000 of donations. The argument stems from an email Your Party sent out in September to supporters. It included a link to sign up for a £5 monthly subscription or a £55 annual payment.
A few hours later those same people received another email which said: “An unauthorised email was sent to all yourparty.uk supporters… That email should be ignored by all supporters. If any direct debits have been set up, they should be immediately cancelled.”
This email was signed by Jeremy Corbyn and four previously independent MPs who had pledged themselves to the new party. Zarah Sultana’s name was absent.
The two sides traded blows on X with a series of statements. Sultana wrote: “Unfortunately, I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club: I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely.”
Your Party responded: “Zarah signed up to this and was welcomed into the Independent Alliance. She has not been excluded from any discussions – and everyone involved has been committed to a process rooted in inclusivity and mutual respect.”
By the end of October, the leadership split became more serious.
Your Party threatened to take legal action against MoU Operations, a company set up to hold the members’ donations, which had reached £800,000.
Your Party staff accused the three independent directors in charge of the company of keeping the donations beyond their reach.
But in September, when Corbyn’s team had emailed supporters to cancel direct debits and request refunds, it was those same three directors who had become personally liable to cover the cost of the refunds. Because of card transaction fees they were going to have to pay out more than the company had taken in.
By October the directors wanted out, offering Sultana and Corbyn joint control of the company. The Observer understands that Corbyn dithered with the paperwork, and Sultana is currently the sole director.
Your Party officials have now levied the same charge against Sultana – that she is withholding funds, which they say is “frustrating and disheartening”.
The Observer was told that the leadership of Your Party, and Jeremy Corbyn in particular, had little understanding of party governance.
The same source said no one in the party seemed to have much respect for basic record-keeping, and paying staff became a problem when invoices were submitted to MoU Operations verbally.
A party official denied that it had problems with governance and said it has met all its legal and regulatory responsibilities, but that MoU Operations has been lax in tracking its expenditure.
Zack Polanski is scooping up votes on the left with his mix of socialism, environmentalism and deft use of social media
In May next year there will be elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and local elections in England. That doesn’t leave much time for Your Party to transform itself into a viable political force.
Added to that is the challenge from the Greens. The party’s new leader, Zack Polanski, is scooping up votes on the left with his mix of socialism, environmentalism and deft use of social media.
A number of former Corbyn supporters and advisers are helping Polanksi. Matt Zarb-Cousin, who was spokesperson for Corbyn as Labour leader, argues that Your Party and the Greens should unite to oppose Reform at the next general election.
Other sources who have worked closely with Corbyn described Your Party as chaotic and a bit of a disaster.
One early supporter said that in early discussions the plan was for Corbyn to lead the party for the first couple of years and then hand over to Zarah Sultana.
Jon Lansman, a veteran Labour party activist, who has known Corbyn for around 50 years described him as “a reluctant leader” but with brand recognition that Sultana lacked early on. One leader who wants the job but doesn’t have the following, another that has the following, but doesn’t want the job. It’s a situation ripe for mutual resentment.
It’s been reported that Zarah Sultana plans to hold her own separate rally in Liverpool ahead of Your Party’s conference, and even that she could launch her own faction. With next to no hope of a united front at the conference, the question now is whether Your Party’s founders can remain civil long enough for it to survive much beyond its birth.
Photograph by Leon Neal/Getty