Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana cannot run to lead the new left-wing party they founded after members voted that a ‘collective’ headed by a non-MP should make major decisions about its future.
A second option, for a traditional single leader, which would have seen Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana battle it out to head Your Party, was also rejected by members.
Instead, by a small margin of 51.6 to 48.4 per cent, they voted that the party should, for its first two years, embrace a “collective lay-member” leadership model, not led by an MP.
On Saturday, a defiant Zarah Sultana refused to be “pushed out” of Your Party after she boycotted the first day of its conference, accusing people within the organisation of creating a “toxic culture” and citing a “witch hunt”.
In an extraordinary row at the party’s inaugural gathering, Ms Sultana said she would not enter the main conference centre in Liverpool on Saturday after one of her supporters, Kingston councillor James Giles, claimed to have been denied entry. Other members were expelled on Friday over alleged membership of the Socialist Workers Party.
Ms Sultana welcomed the Your Party conference’s decision to choose a collective leadership model over a single leader, saying “this party will be led by its members, not MPs. This is only the beginning.”
Before the conference even began, a second MP quit the crisis-hit group. Iqbal Mohamed said he was resigning because of “false allegations and smears against me”. He had recently clashed with Ms Sultana over his gender-critical beliefs.
His departure came just one week after Adnan Hussain said he was withdrawing from the “steering process” for the new party, citing concerns about factionalism and “veiled prejudice” against Muslims.
Your Party has been riven by infighting and rifts almost since it was announced earlier this year.
In September, insiders told The Independent that “diplomatic efforts” were underway to try to heal divisions between Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana.
It came after she complained she had been “subjected to … a sexist boys’ club” amid a dispute over a new membership system.
Pollsters have warned that the new group poses a threat to Labour and could take a significant number of votes from Keir Starmer’s party.
A Find Out Now poll over the summer suggested that Your Party would be equal third to Labour in support, on 15 per cent each, with Reform on 34 per cent and the Tories on 17 per cent.
Luke Tryl, from the organisation More in Common, told The Independent in August that the prospect of a new Corbyn-led party polled very well and “took 10 per cent of the vote, taking votes from Labour and the Greens”.
Members were also asked to vote on several options for the new party’s name – Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance, and For The Many, with an announcement expected on Sunday afternoon.
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