Corbyn and Sultana in public spat over ‘Your Party’ membership system

Zarah Sultana has claimed she has been subjected to a “sexist boys’ club”, as the fledgling political party she and Jeremy Corbyn are setting up became enveloped in a row over a membership system.

On Thursday morning an invite went out to members of the unnamed party, so far described as “Your Party” in its campaign material, inviting them to officially sign up and give it financial backing.

But Mr Corbyn described this as an “unauthorised email” and warned supporters in a statement posted on social media not to sign up via the link.

The former Labour leader and Independent MP for Islington North also said “legal advice is being taken” over the incident, in the message, which also featured the names of four other Independent MPs who have set up an ad-hoc parliamentary group with Mr Corbyn.

They are Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohammed and Shockat Adam.

Any direct debits should be “immediately cancelled”, Mr Corbyn’s message said.

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Warning

Writing on X, Ms Sultana appeared to respond to the warning from Mr Corbyn and his colleagues.

The Coventry South MP 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.”

Despite Mr Corbyn’s warning, she insisted supporters of Your Party should “sign up now” as the portal was a “safe, secure, legitimate” means of becoming a member of the party.

Ms Sultana added: “My sole motivation has been to safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential in 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.”

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Row

The row over whether the membership portal is legitimate is not the first time the two MPs have disagreed over the party’s set up.

Earlier this year, Ms Sultana announced she would be setting up the new left-wing political party with Mr Corbyn before he appeared ready to confirm this was the case.

Ms Sultana has also reportedly clashed with Independent MP for Blackburn Mr Hussain over their different views on trans rights.