The Battle for the Soul Of ‘Your Party’ Is Already Underway

Jeremy Corbyn’s left-wing alternative to Labour doesn’t formally exist yet, but there are already signs of a rift between those at the centre of the fledgling party and grass roots supporters demanding a greater say in how it’s run.

More than 700,000 people have so far signed up to the mailing list of the new group – provisionally called ‘Your Party. As well as Corbyn and Sultana, it boasts the backing of four independent MP’s elected on pro-Gaza mandates last July. 

The new party’s launch was botched, however, when Sultana declared in July that she and Corbyn would be its co-leaders – an announcement seen as an attempt to ‘bounce’ the former Labour leader into a partnership before his involvement had been officially announced.

Now comes another problem for Your Party; demands by local organisers for greater participation in how its constitution and policies are formed.

Among them is Alan Story, a journalist and activist from Norwich.

Story has claimed via his Substack The Left Lane that details of prospective members who have registered with the party nationally are not being shared at local level.

He told the Byline Podcast it felt like fighting a war where the artillery was being held in reserve, rather than being taken to the battlefield where it is needed.

He said: “We need the names. We need people. We want to get them mobilised. If someone sent a message two weeks ago saying, ‘I want to join this party’ but then they don’t hear anything for months, where is this party going?”

“We’ve got things to do on the grassroots level, but if we don’t have the tools to do it, then we’re quite neutered.”

So far, Story and his colleagues have independently generated more than 200 contacts for ‘Your Party’ in Norwich via social media and personal contacts, but believe hundreds more would be accessible via the national database.

“Word of mouth is fine,” he said, “but we want to get the members involved, making videos, doing all the kinds of exciting things that can be done as an alternative to Labour and Reform. 

“But we’re hampered. We’re not allowed to do that. I think it’s completely the wrong way to build a party.”

Story claims the blockage is due to a ‘decree’ by Karie Murphy, Executive Director of Corbyn’s office when he was Leader of the Opposition between 2016 and 2020.

She now heads Collective, a Corbyn-inspired group which describes itself as “the engine that will drive the formation of a new, mass membership political party of the left in the UK.”

Murphy is clearly irked by what she regards a personal attack by Story, who sourced his information from attendees on a Zoom call among an inner group of prospective organisers.

She told Byline Times: “I explained the data collated from those interested in joining a new political party would not be randomly shared at this time with ‘unknown individuals or groupings’ in geographical areas or in Scotland and Wales. 

“This was not a ‘decree’ but a sharing of information, and my intent was clear – encouraging those actually organising in their communities to build events and gatherings without relying on this data to build on the momentum. 

“I further added work was continuing to plan and make the best use at [a] local level of the data gathered”.

And she pointed out that, “Your Party is not, as yet, a political party.” 

These growing pains reflect a battle for the soul of the new entity. Is it primarily a vehicle to capitalise on Corbyn’s personal popularity, and ensure his continued political influence in Westminster, by creating an alternative version of Labour? 

Or will it represent a more radical break with conventional party structures, in the style of the Workers Party of Belgium – which won 9% of the seats in the 2024 elections, but which also has a strong culture of extra-parliamentary action?

Story firmly favours the latter: “Of course, the majority of members will be ex Labour Party people, but we want to bring together a wide spectrum of progressive opinion – communists, anarchists, trade unions, and get together a real force.”

The Independent Alliance MPs, including Corbyn and Sultana, have said that they will oversee the founding of the party, suggesting they favour a more traditional ‘top down’ approach.

A key moment will be the party’s inaugural conference in November, which may reveal the extent to which Murphy and other battle-hardened veterans of the Labour left can control the forces their new party has unleashed.

Despite these growing pains, there is a unity of purpose among the various factions, including fierce hostility to the Labour government’s stance on Israel, opposition to its increasingly right wing rhetoric on immigration and an appetite for the nationalisation of key utilities, including water.

With polls suggesting that Nigel Farage and Reform are poised to capitalise on Sir Keir Starmer’s unpopularity, the left believes that it, too, could make an electoral breakthrough.

Jon Tonge, Professor of UK politics at Liverpool University, suggests that in the current unpredictable political climate, they might just have an opportunity.

He said: “Left wing parties have struggled to get traction in British politics because of the first past the post system. 

“That said, you can make a reasonable case that British politics is so fragmented at the moment, that if there was ever going to be some sort of parliamentary breakthrough by a party to the left of Labour, now is the moment where it could happen.

“There’s never been this level of disenchantment with the ‘Big Two [Labour and Conservative] and that gives parties of the right and of the left a chance.”