Britain’s New Left Party, Everyone’s Party, co-founded by former Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, is mired in a bitter rift between its leaders.
On Saturday, Everyone’s Party co-founder Zarah Sultana announced that she would be absent from the first day of the newly formed group’s first two-day conference due to serious disagreements over who could attend.
What is your party?
After the UK’s last general election in 2024, when Labor won a landslide victory after 14 years in Conservative government, Corbyn and four other left-wing independents (Shokat Adam, Adnan Hussein, Ayub Khan and Iqbal Mohamed) formed the Independence Alliance, focused on taking a pro-Palestinian position on Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Mr Corbyn, 76, resigned as Labor leader after the Conservative Party suffered another defeat in the 2019 election.
Among other issues, Mr Corbyn has long weathered accusations of anti-Semitism during his time in the Labor leadership, which many described as a “witch hunt” against him and his supporters.
In 2020, the Equality and Human Rights Commission released findings that found Labor had breached anti-Semitic racism laws. He partly blamed “serious failures” under Corbyn’s leadership.
In response, Mr Corbyn said antisemitism was “absolutely abhorrent”, but added: “The scale of the problem has been dramatically exaggerated for political reasons, by the opposition both inside and outside the party, and by much of the media.”
As a result, he was immediately suspended from the party. He rejoined the party in 2020, but ultimately left the Labor Party for good in 2024 after nearly 60 years as a member, becoming an independent.
In late July, he announced that he would co-found a new Socialist Party with independent MP Zara Sultana, 32, who also left the Labor Party on July 3 and became an independent. Other members of the League of Independence also participated. The aim was to present the new party as a credible left-wing alternative to the ruling Labor Party.
In a statement at the time, Corbyn and Sultana said: “The system is rigged when the government says there is no money for poor people but billions of dollars for war.”
The statement added that it envisions a political party “rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements.”
“As a party, we must come together and unite, because division and disagreement are not in the interests of the people we want to represent,” Mr Corbyn said at the first conference, held in the northwestern English city of Liverpool, which ended with an enthusiastic performance of the Italian anti-fascist folk song “Bella Ciao” by attendees.
Why did Sultana refuse to attend on the first day?
Mr Sultana announced on Saturday that he would not attend in protest after one of his supporters was refused entry to the event and several others were expelled from the party on suspicion of being members of the far-left Socialist Workers’ Party.
“On the morning of the inaugural meeting, I was disappointed to see that people who had traveled from all over the country to attend this meeting and had spent so much money on train fares and hotels were told that they had been expelled,” Sultana told the Press Association news agency.
He added: “It’s a culture reminiscent of the Labor Party. It’s reminiscent of the witch hunts on the eve of meetings and the disrespectful treatment of party members.”
However, an anonymous spokesperson for Everyone’s Party defended the decision to ban Socialist Workers’ Party members from participating. “Members of another national political party have registered with Everyone’s Party in breach of clearly defined membership rules and these rules have been enforced,” the spokesperson told British media.
Sultana attended the second day of the conference on Sunday and apologized for what he described as a “squat” during the party’s launch.
But he added: “Expulsion, banning and censorship in the chamber is unacceptable. It is undemocratic. It is an attack on our members and our movement.”
What other disagreements do the leaders have?
The fledgling party has been plagued by disagreements over several issues.
funding
In November, executives including Corbyn, Iqbal Mohammed and Adnan Hussein accused Mr Sultana of withholding more than £800,000 ($1.06 million) in donations to the party when it was announced in July.
As the party was still in the process of being officially registered as a legal entity, the funds were temporarily raised by a private company called MoU Operations Ltd, controlled by Sultana.
The BBC reported on November 8 that an unnamed spokesperson for Ms Sultana said she was “transferring all funds and data” but was carrying out “essential due diligence as part of this process”.
As of mid-November, the party had received a “small portion” of the funds, according to a statement from the Everyone’s Party leadership. There is no latest information on the status of the remaining funds.
leadership model
There were disagreements over how the newly formed party should be led.
While Ms Sultana called for a collective of leaders to reflect grassroots representation, or what she called “maximum membership democracy”, Mr Corbyn said a single traditional leader would be more effective.
In the end, the party voted for the leadership group by a narrow margin of 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent.
This means that the party will now be led by a leadership group and overseen by party members who are not members of parliament.
Ultimately, many see the problem plaguing the party as a leadership battle between Corbyn and Sultana.
British media reported that Corbyn supporters were angry at President Sultana’s decision to hold a pre-conference rally on the eve of the start of the conference. She called it everyone’s party event, but they claimed it was organized by her alone.
deserter of the party
Several members of the new party, including some current members, have already left the party, as Corbyn supporters accuse Mr Sultana of trying to undermine him and vice versa. On November 14, Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain announced his decision to resign from the X Post.
“The culture surrounding the party is dominated by persistent infighting, factional competition and struggles for power, status and influence, rather than a common commitment to the common good,” Hussein said in a statement.
“Instead of openness, collaboration and outward focus, the environment has too often felt toxic, exclusive and deeply discouraging,” he added.
After much consideration, I have made the difficult decision to step back from the operational process of Your Party.
I wish all those who continue this endeavor the best of luck and that their efforts bring them the desired results. pic.twitter.com/zz4EevEIzu
— Adnan Hussain MP (@AdnanHussainMP) November 14, 2025
A week later, Mr Dewsbury and Batley MP Iqbal Mohammed also announced their resignations.
In a statement published in X on November 21, Mohamed said: “It is surprising and disappointing that so many false allegations and defamations have been made against me and others, and that they have been reported as fact without any evidence. However, I am confident that my colleagues and I have always acted professionally, patiently and with integrity.”
My statement regarding everyone leaving the party. pic.twitter.com/NsoNLHU7xI
— Iqbal Mohamed MP (@iqbalmohamedMP) November 21, 2025
