Your Party conference in chaos as Zarah Sultana decries ‘toxic culture’

The inaugural Your Party conference has descended into chaos as Zarah Sultana decried its “toxic culture”, despite Jeremy Corbyn’s plea for unity.

Ms Sultana said she would not enter the nascent left-wing party’s conference centre in Liverpool on Saturday in protest at a “witch hunt”, after one of her supporters, Kingston councillor James Giles, was denied entry.

She said she was “disappointed” people had been expelled from the party over alleged membership of the Socialist Workers Party.

Your Party denied claims of a “purge” of members, saying those pushed out were members of another national political party and had therefore broken “clearly stated membership rules”.

Former Labour MP Ms Sultana told the Press Association: “I’m disappointed to see on the morning of our founding conference, people who have travelled from all over the country, spent a lot of money on their train fare, on hotels, on being able to participate in this conference, being told that they have been expelled.

“That is a culture that is reminiscent of the Labour Party, how there were witch hunts on the eve of conference, how members were treated with contempt.”

She said she would not be “pushed out” of Your Party, adding: “We need to establish the party have democracy at the very heart of it.”

The Coventry South MP continued: “We absolutely have to work together.

“But what we have to get rid of is this toxic culture of leaks to the right-wing press, of legal threats, of bullying, intimidation and acts of sabotage like what I experienced before I went on BBC Question Time.

“It is all symptomatic of a group of people who are operating with paranoia and an obsession with control, and what I’m here to do is defend member democracy.”

Your Party rejected her claims, with a spokesman saying: “Zarah isn’t being pushed out, she is addressing conference tomorrow.”

In response to her criticism of the party’s culture, he said: “We’re focused on a democratic conference in which members can debate and vote on the big issues. That’s what Your Party is all about.”

Mr Giles blamed his and fellow councillor Michael Lavalette’s exclusion on “a personal vendetta” against them by an “unelected clique at the top of the party” because of their support for Ms Sultana’s calls for maximum member democracy.

“They’re just trying to silence people they don’t agree with,” the Kingston councillor told PA.

Earlier, Mr Corbyn opened the conference with a call for unity, acknowledging there had been “mistakes” in the party’s foundation.

It has been overshadowed by internal conflict between the former Labour leader and Ms Sultana, involving a botched membership launch and threats of legal action.

Two other Independent MPs, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed, withdrew from the party’s founding process, in part due to infighting.

The two-day conference will see members vote on a shortlist of potential names – Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many – as well as a leadership model and whether the party should back “socialist” independent candidates at the May 2026 local elections.

Ms Sultana complained it was “undemocratic” that her favoured name was not offered as an option, as she said she would support Mr Corbyn if he were elected leader despite her preference for a shared leadership.

She told PA: “I supported a co-leadership structure. Unfortunately, a nameless, faceless bureaucrat decided the members weren’t allowed to even vote on that option.

“Interestingly, I also supported the ‘Left Party’ as being one of the names for the party that I supported, and that hasn’t also been included as an option for members, which actually is an undemocratic move.

“If the membership chooses a sole leader, despite my strong advocacy for collective leadership, I will support that.

“If Jeremy is elected by the members, I will of course support that.”

Speaking at the start of the weekend, Mr Corbyn said the fledgling party had “a unique opportunity” to found “a socialist party of mass appeal” against a “triopoly of political thinking in Parliament”.

He suggested Your Party could write a handbook for the establishment of a political party, saying others could “learn from our problems, learn from our mistakes, learn from overreaching”.

He added that, despite hosting rival events on Friday night, both he and Ms Sultana had exchanged supportive messages to be read out at those meetings.

Mr Corbyn also said: “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.”

In his speech, he called for “public, democratic ownership” of the water industry, led a chant of “free, free Palestine” and urged party members to “campaign forevermore for real socialism and real social justice”.

Following his speech, the conference moved on to discussion of whether the party should refer to itself as “socialist”, which was quickly interrupted by a heckler.

Some 2,500 members have been selected to attend the event, out of a total membership that the party claims now numbers 50,000.