Why has there been so much tension in Your Party?

Infighting continues to plague Your Party, with co-founder Zarah Sultana boycotting day one of its inaugural conference in Liverpool today.

Ms Sultana co-founded Your Party with Jeremy Corbyn in July, but tensions between its leaders have been clear from the outset.

So what is this row about and what others have occurred since Your Party was founded?

Why has Ms Sultana boycotted the conference?

The co-founder refused to attend the start of the conference after it emerged members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) had been expelled from Your Party.

Your Party rules do not permit dual membership, but a spokesperson for Ms Sultana branded this a "witch hunt" and said she wouldn't be attending until her planned speech on Sunday.

Ms Sultana has been advocating for what she calls "maximum member democracy" and believes anyone who is a socialist should be allowed in Your Party.

Her allies see the expulsions as an attempt to purge those supportive of her.

Members of the SWP argue dual membership should be allowed as the SWP doesn't field election candidates.

Members of the left-wing organisation Counterfire have also been banned from conference, Sky News has learned.

A Your Party spokesperson said claims of a purge are "false".

They said: "Members of another national political party signed up to Your Party in contravention of clearly-stated membership rules - and these rules were enforced.

"We're focused on hosting a democratic founding conference with thousands of members coming together to debate and decide the big issues. This is politics outside the Westminster mold: from the ground up, not the top down."

What other disputes have there been?

A public row between Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana ensued in September after he accused the co-founder of sending out unauthorised emails encouraging paid membership.

An email had been sent out to Your Party supporters sharing a membership portal where visitors could sign up for either a regular or concessionary membership for £55 or £25 a year. Ms Sultana also shared a link to the portal on X.

Hours later, the official Your Party X account posted a statement - signed by Mr Corbyn and all other MPs involved with the party except for Ms Sultana - saying the email was "unauthorised" and that supporters should ignore it.

"If any direct debits have been set up, they should be immediately cancelled," the statement read.

In a further statement, the party said: "A false membership system has been unilaterally launched, data collected and payments taken."

Claims of a 'sexist boys' club'

After the party said the email and domain were unauthorised, Ms Sultana released a statement revealing that she had launched the membership portal herself, despite not having the "dual authorisation of both myself and Jeremy - which was the agreement made at the start of this process".

She said she took the step "after being sidelined" by the MPs named in the Your Party statement - Mr Corbyn, Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam.

She added: "My sole motivation has been to safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential to 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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A statement by Your Party read: "These developments are a blow for everyone who has put their hope in a real alternative.

"Following Zarah Sultana's unilateral announcement of the launch of a new party on 3 July, an agreement was reached for the Independent Alliance MPs to kickstart the founding process and deliver an open, democratic conference to found a new party.

"Zarah signed up to this and was welcomed into the Independent Alliance. She has not been excluded from any discussions - and everyone involved has been committed to a process rooted in inclusivity and mutual respect."

Rocky from the outset - as Corbyn declines to call Sultana a friend

The new organisation got off to a rocky start when Ms Sultana appeared to blindside Mr Corbyn by announcing the party's formation before him.

The pair confirmed the launch a few weeks later, sharing a link to a website called Yourparty.co.uk, but then clarified that was not actually the name and members would decide that in due course.

As Sky News previously reported, a debate soon raged about its leadership model, with split opinions on whether Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana should co-lead the party or whether outside candidates should be given the chance to run in a "grassroots" contest.

Speaking to Sky News on the eve of the party's inaugural conference, Mr Corbyn acknowledged "stresses and strains" in the set-up of the party but said it had become "a lot better in the last few days and weeks and we're going to get through this weekend".

Asked if they were friends, Mr Corbyn said they were "colleagues in parliament, and we obviously communicate and so on". The pair appeared at separate events on the eve of the party's inaugural gathering.

Mr Corbyn said her previous comments referring to the party's hierarchy as a "sexist boys' club" were an "unfortunate choice of words" but added that he had been more involved in the organisation of the conference than she had.

He also claimed that Your Party was still waiting for Ms Sultana to transfer all of the funds she had raised from supporters via the unauthorised portal.

Ms Sultana has insisted she is transferring the donations in stages.

(c) Sky News 2025: Why has there been so much tension in Your Party?