“Your Party” to “No Party”: Corbyn’s New Left Dream Descends Into Chaos
Launch marred by money rows, activist coups and bitter infighting as Zarah Sultana threatens legal action and grassroots demand MPs step aside
Act Two — Our Party, Their Party, No Party
It Launch marred by money rows, activist coups and bitter infighting as Zarah Sultana threatens legal action and grassroots demand MPs step asideis astonishing really. Just when you thought the launch of Your Party could not descend any further into pantomime, Act Two arrives. Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana barely had time to cut the ribbon before the activists stormed the stage with their own production, Our Party. So we now have Your Party, Our Party, and, the way things are going, soon No Party at all
Not a word on policy. No sign of vision. Just more rows over who owns the email password, who controls the cash, and whether Britain’s new left project is anything more than a rolling circus. A masterclass, if ever there was one, in how not to do politics.
The activist coup
Enter Our Party. An assortment of grassroots figures, Jonas Marvin, Shanice McBean, Josh Virasami, Jeanine Hourani, announced that the MPs must step aside and hand over control to the rank and file. Their demands were set out in an open letter on 19 September: an Independent Handover Team, not aligned with either faction, would seize control of all resources — money, membership lists, data, digital systems — and run elections for a Founding Stewards Committee. MPs would be strictly barred from influencing the process.
The letter claimed to speak for 800,000 supporters and was quickly boosted by Owen Jones, one of Corbynism’s most vocal champions, who described it as “hope” after the despair of the portal fiasco. His endorsement turbo-charged the rebellion, turning a squabble into a serious bid to sideline the very MPs who launched the party.
The portal money tree
At the centre of it all remains the money row. Sultana’s portal claimed 20,000 sign-ups. Do the maths: half a million quid, maybe over a million, pledged on the strength of one rogue email. Then came the U-turn: Corbyn’s camp urging everyone to cancel their direct debits before more damage was done. The Information Commissioner’s Office called in, lawyers consulted, refunds demanded.
Sultana denies all of this. She insists the portal was legitimate, the funds ringfenced, and members’ data never put at risk. She has instructed defamation lawyers to hold her accusers to account. The result is open warfare: one side says she blundered, she says they defamed her, and the activists want the MPs gone altogether.
The “boys’ club” defence, revisited
Caught in the storm, Sultana accused her colleagues of running a “sexist boys’ club”. Stirring rhetoric, but no evidence. No minutes, no emails, no witnesses. Just her word.
And the irony? She herself runs Zarah Sultana Campaigns Ltd, a company with one director, one shareholder, one decision-maker: her. If Corbyn’s camp is a boys’ club, then hers is a girls’ club of one. Population: Zarah.
Fast-tracked, parachuted, politically sugar-daddied
Sultana’s claim to be the grassroots outsider is paper thin. In 2019 she was parachuted into Labour’s European list, then eased into Coventry South after the sitting MP was conveniently removed. A smooth passage, greased by the Corbynite machine of the day.
Almost as if she had a political sugar daddy looking out for her. But who on earth could that have been?
Corbyn the gentleman, stuck again
Jeremy Corbyn’s name inevitably arises. Say what you like about his politics, but he is a delightful gentleman, courteous, soft-spoken, unfailingly kind. In 2017 he won more votes for Labour than Sir Keir Starmer managed in 2024. For a moment he seemed to offer a new path.
And yet here he is again, presiding over another noble experiment that falters. It is not entirely his fault — this time it is Sultana’s rashness and the activists’ coup — but the pattern is painfully familiar. Crowds inspired, organisation in ruins, Corbyn left clutching the fragments.
The activist baggage
And what of the new heroes of Our Party? As reported by the Jewish Chronicle, Josh Virasami once tweeted “Victory to the intifada!” during riots in Lod, not exactly a unifying message. Jeanine Hourani, the Palestinian activist, accused arts festivals of “artwashing” Israel’s violence in her own op-ed for The New Arab. Both positions play well in their circles, but to the average voter in Coventry South they may look like firebrands rather than credible leaders.
So here we are: Sultana threatening legal action, Corbyn too gentle to slap her down, and activists with Twitter baggage demanding the keys to the kingdom. If this is the cavalry, the left is in deeper trouble than anyone thought.
Principles, what principles?
Sultana’s problem is not just poor judgement. It is hypocrisy. In 2020 she backed a bill saying MPs who defect must face recall. Fast forward to 2025: she quits Labour, clings on to her seat, and refuses to resign. By her own standard she should be out delivering leaflets already.
If she stays, it is hypocrisy. If she goes, it is political suicide. Either way, the principle is gone.
Coventry South: on the brink
Polls put Labour on 25.5 per cent, Reform at 25, the Tories close behind on 22. Coventry South is a three-way dogfight. Add the chaos of Your Party and Corbyn’s lukewarm support, and Sultana is in peril. The irony? She may end her bold new experiment not with a revolution but with a Reform MP in her old seat.
Credibility, what credibility?
And that is the deeper question. If they cannot even present a united front at launch, what hope is there in government? If this lot cannot agree on who holds the email password, how on earth would they manage the serious business of running a country?
Could they fix a road? Could they be trusted to deliver housing for the homeless? To give direction to our military? To collect taxes and balance budgets? The truth is, they have barely moved beyond infancy. A political playgroup, squabbling over toys, already falling out before the first meeting is called to order.
It is a question of credibility, and the answer is obvious. None.
The verdict
So what do we have? A party without policies, without a functioning membership system, now split into Your Party and Our Party. Rows about money, accusations without evidence, activists with baggage demanding control, and a co-founder who denies everything and threatens legal action.
Jeremy Corbyn deserved better than this. A kind, principled man, he wanted to give the left a fresh start. Instead, once again, he finds himself presiding over a noble failure.
And yet Corbyn himself remains untouched in character. He tried, he failed, but he remains the same gentle, courteous, well-loved figure he has always been. For many, he will always be the man who gave them hope, even if he could not deliver power.
What should have been a proud new legacy now risks becoming just another reminder that good intentions, without discipline, lead only to disappointment. Corbyn the man endures, still admired and even cherished. Corbyn the political project, however, lies in ruins.