The co-leaders of Your Party – Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana – have fallen out spectacularly and have traded legal threats and insults online.
Corbyn said today that he is seeking “legal advice” against after Sultana shared a paid membership link for Your Party online – something she was allegedly unauthorised to do.
Sultana responded by accusing Corbyn and fellow MPs Ayoub Khan, Shockat Adam, Iqbal Mohamed and Adnan Hussain of being a “sexist boys’ club.”
The row started after the former Labour leader said he was seeking legal advice after an email was sent by the party urging supporters to become paid-up members ahead of its inaugural conference this year.
He warned backers to ignore the “unauthorised email” in a statement signed off by him and the party’s five Muslim MPs, ignoring Sultana.
Writing on X, Mr Corbyn said: “This morning, an unauthorised email was sent to all Your Party supporters with details of a supposed membership portal hosted in a new domain name. Legal advice is being taken. That email should be ignored by all supporters.”
Mr Corbyn urged anyone who had signed up to cancel any direct debits.
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“Soon, you will be able to turn your support into membership and shape the future of our party and our country,” Mr Corbyn added.
Responding, Sultana said she had been sidelined by the party she co-founded and that she has “been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club.”
She confirmed she had unilaterally taken the decision to send out the membership email to “safeguard the grassroots involvement” she believes is essential to the party’s success.
It attracted £20,000 paid members within hours, she said, which could mean income of more than £1m per year.
In a statement, Ms Sultana said: “After being sidelined by the MPs named in today’s statement and effectively frozen out of the official accounts, I took the step of launching a membership portal so that supporters could continue to engage and organise.
“This was in line with the roadmap set out to members… 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.”
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have disagreed since founding the left wing party.
The party’s launch was originally announced by Sultana, who said in July she was quitting the Labour Party to co-found the new venture with Corbyn.
But Corbyn appeared unready for the announcement, making no public statement on the launch until the next day.
Their relationship further strained after she accused him of “capitulating” over antisemitism when he was Labour leader.
Sultana and Corbyn loyalist Adnan Hussain also rowed over transgender rights.
The conflict surfaced in August when Hussain, the Independent MP for Blackburn, made comments on X stating that trans women are “not biologically women” and advocated for “safe third spaces” as an alternative to single-sex spaces for transgender individuals.
He argued that women’s rights and safe spaces should not be compromised, referencing a recent Supreme Court ruling defining “woman” by biological sex.
Sultana, a vocal supporter of trans rights, responded indirectly on X, emphasising solidarity with the trans community and rejecting bigotry, stating: “I’ve always stood with the trans community, and I always will. The same forces targeting migrants and Muslims are attacking LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people. Our safety is in solidarity.”
She later declared on the “Pod Save the UK” podcast that there is “no room” for socially conservative or non-pro-trans views in the party, implicitly targeting Hussain’s stance.
