In an extroardinary split in the new ‘Your Party’ group, co-founder and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana claimed she had been subjected to a ‘sexist boys’ club’
A new left-wing party being set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana descended into chaos today over the launch of a membership platform.
In an extraordinary split in the group, which was set up under the holding name ‘Your Party’ in the summer, co-founder Ms Sultana claimed she had been subjected to a “sexist boys’ club” and frozen out of official accounts.
It came as former Labour leader Mr Corbyn urged supporters of ‘Your Party’ to cancel direct debits, claiming an “unauthorised email” was sent out to supporters on Thursday. The email told them: “Today is the day. Our membership portal is now open.”
It included a link where backers could join as a regular member for £55 a year – or £5 per month – or a concessionary rate of £25 per year.
READ MORE: Inside Jeremy Corbyn’s new party as Keir Starmer issued warning by top pollster
Earlier, ex-Labour MP Ms Sultana was urging people on social media to sign up, with a link to the portal, and said 20,000 had so far joined. She also claimed “right-wing bad faith actors are desperate to claim this link is fake”.
But in an urgent message posted on X, Mr Corbyn warned: “This morning, an unauthorised email was sent to all yourparty.co.uk supporters with details of a supposed membership portal hosted in a new domain name.
“Legal advice is being taken. This email should be ignored by all supporters. If any direct debits have been set up, they should be immediately cancelled.”
He added: “Soon, you will be able to turn your support into membership at yourparty.uk, and shape the future of our party and our country”.
The letter was signed by independent MPs in the Commons, including Shockat Adam, Iqbal Mohamed, Adnan Hussain, and Ayoub Khan, but Ms Sultana’s name was notably missing. Minutes later, she posted a statement saying she had been “effectively frozen out of the official accounts” and took the step to launch the membership portal.
She added: “My sole motivation has been to safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential to building this party. Unfortunately, I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club: I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely.”
Ms Sultana went on: “I am calling on Jeremy to meet with me and agree to make public all agreed structures, processes and decision-making protocols.
“Doing this will restore hope for our members, and ensure nothing like this can ever happen again. This party is more important than any one person, and we owe it to the movement to deliver a truly democratic and socialist party.”
Later on Thursday, Your Party said it had reported itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office. In a statement posted on X, it said: “Following this morning’s unauthorised email to yourparty.uk supporters, the data controller has reported the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office. We will cooperate with the Information Commissioner in full.
“A false membership system has been unilaterally launched, data collected and payments taken. Yourparty.uk has responsibilities to our supporters and duties under the law.”
A Labour source responded, saying: “Every Corbyn-Sultana conversation right now: “it’s not YOUR party, it’s MY party”. Utterly predictable chaos before they even get off the starting blocks.”
The new Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has previously suggested he is open to working with the new left-wing party, told The Mirror: “My door is always open for conversations with Jeremy and Zarah. Two people committed to making our country fairer who I really respect.
“But today I’m focused on what I can do towards that end, and that’s to keep growing the movement within the Green Party. We’ve just broken 73,000 members, have a record number of cllrs, and are hitting record levels in the polls. To keep growing the Green Party and to be a voice for bold leadership at this time is what I remain focused on.”
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