Setback for Jeremy Corbyn as Your Party opts for collective leadership

Jeremy Corbyn suffered a setback on Sunday as his new party’s founding conference rejected his preferred leadership set-up.

Members of the new Your Party voted narrowly against having a single elected leader, opting instead for a collective model that put a committee of members in charge.

Mr Corbyn, the former Labour leader, had previously said he backed the “sole leader” model and would stand for the position.

The collective model had been supported by Mr Corbyn’s rival, former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, after her preferred “co-leadership” plan had been blocked from consideration by members.

Welcoming the vote, Ms Sultana said she had “fought for maximum member democracy since day one” and described the decision as “exciting”.

She said: “Together, we’re building a new socialist party – radically democratic and powered by a mass movement.

“This party will be led by its members, not MPs.”

The model, supported by 51.6% of the more than 9,000 members who voted on the proposals, will see the party led by a committee of party members that MPs will be barred from standing for.

A party spokesperson said the vote “shows that we really are doing politics differently: from the bottom up, not the top down”.

In a separate vote, almost 70% backed a proposal to allow members of other parties to join when Your Party’s executive found they “aligned with the party’s values”.

The vote comes after the first day of the founding conference was marred by a dispute over the expulsion of a number of members said to also belong to the Socialist Workers Party.

Ms Sultana called for the members to be reinstated, describing the expulsions as a “witch hunt” and boycotting the first day of the conference in protest.

Earlier in the day, Mr Corbyn had appealed for “unity” after the party’s foundation had been marked by infighting and threats of legal action.

Ms Sultana is still set to give a speech in the main conference hall on Sunday afternoon as scheduled in which she is expected to attack the Labour Government and Reform UK while praising newly-elected New York mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Mr Corbyn will close the conference by announcing the result of a ballot on the new party’s formal name, with members choosing between Your Party, Our Party, Popular Alliance and For The Many.