Why has Zara Sultana boycotted Your Party conference? MP's rift with party leader Jeremy Corbyn explained
Zara Sultana has boycotted the Your Part conference in Liverpool amid a rift between her and party leader Jeremy Corbyn.
The newly-formed political party is hosting its inaugural party conference in Liverpool this weekend. The conference has been led by leader Jeremy Corbyn, who opened the conference by referring to the turmoil that has hit the party so far.
Corbyn told the crowd during his opening address: “As a party, we’ve got to come together and be united, because division and disunity will not serve the interests of the people that we want to represent.”
However, not everyone is onboard as co-founder Zarah Sultana told reporters that she was boycotting the conference. A spokesperson for Ms Sultana said: “This witch hunt is indefensible. We must build a party that welcomes all socialists. She will not be entering the conference hall today.”
Your Party controversy explained
Your Party was founded in July by Sultana and Corbyn as a left-wing alternative to the current political parties in the House of Commons. However, the infancy of the party has been marred by controversy and infighting.
The party first hit trouble during the botched membership launch in September and subsequent threats of legal action.
Sultana and her team sent out a formal membership invitation to those who had signed up to express interest in the party on September 18. As a result, 22,000 people signed up to the party, which raised more than £50,000 for Your Party.
However, a dispute broke out after a statement was released by Corbyn and other members of the closely-aligned Independence Alliance in which they urged supporters to ignore Sultana’s “unauthorised email” and cancel any direct debits they had set up. Corbyn also said that he was seeking legal advice on the matter, with Your Party was referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office over the matter.
In response Sultana accused Corbyn of overseeing a “sexist boys club” and said she had launched the membership site “in line with the road map” that they had set out at the formation of the party.
She said: “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.
“They have refused to allow any other women with voting rights on the Working Group, blocking the gender-balanced committee that both Jeremy and I signed up to.”
Two Independent MPs Adnan Hussain and Iqubal Mohamed have withdrawn from the party’s founding process partly due to the infighting between Sultana and Corbyn.
The rift between Sultana and Corbyn has further deepened after one of her supporters, Kingston councillor James Giles, was reportedly denied entry to this week’s party conference. The pair also disagreed after other members of the party were expelled on Friday night over alleged membership to the Socialist Workers Party.
Sultana’s spokesperson told reporters: “Zarah met members outside the conference and condemned the recent expulsions.”
However, a spokesperson for Your Party has denied claims of a “purge” within the party, saying that the expulsions came after members had broken party rules.
They said: “These claims are false. Members of another national political party signed up to Your Party in contravention of clearly stated membership rules – and these rules were enforced.
“We’re focused on hosting a democratic founding conference with thousands of members coming together to debate and decide the big issues. This is politics outside the Westminster mould: From the ground up, not the top down.”