Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s left-wing movement, Your Party, have said a very public split between the two founders is “embarrassing” and “frustrating”.
A row broke out between the former Labour leader and Ms Sultana on Thursday afternoon, after he accused her of sending out unauthorised emails encouraging paid membership.
The one-time potential prime minister accused his co-leader of wrongdoing, and said legal action was being considered, in a letter signed by four other independent MPs who were part of the founding process of Your Party.
Ms Sultana, who resigned from the Labour Party to help found the new left-wing organisation in July this year, hit back and said she had been “sidelined” by a “sexist boys club”.
The 31-year-old MP added in a statement that she had been “effectively frozen out of the official accounts” of the group, and therefore “took the step of launching a membership portal that supporters could continue to engage and organise”.
She insisted she had acted solely to “safeguard the grassroots involvement” of Your Party.
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But many of those who have signed using Ms Sultana’s new, paid membership form have told Sky News they are unsure about the move – with several saying they are thinking of cancelling their membership.
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Sam T, who signed up for a £5 a month membership, called the public split “a bit of a shambles”.
He told Sky News he is “willing to give Zarah the benefit of the doubt”, but said he might as well have given a fiver to a member of the public, instead.
Sam said: “I’m considering cancelling it now – I don’t want to pay for no reason.
“I might as well go and give £5 to someone on the street.”
Layla C, another person who signed up for the monthly membership this morning, has already cancelled her direct debit.
She said she and others were “really excited” when the official looking email came out from Your Party, but said the split has been “really messy and destroyed a bit of hope that we all held when the party was first announced”.
Layla, from Glasgow, added: “It looks so unprofessional, and we don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think it’s a very good look for either of them.”
Jack, who signed up to be a concession member, told Sky News: “It’s really frustrating as I was very happy to see there was finally a membership sign-up.
“Corbyn and Sultana don’t have serious ideological differences. It seems like an entirely personality based split, and it’s really confusing to me how the people around them expect ordinary left-wing voters to care about who’s people are in charge. It just seems really self-indulgent.”
Dan, from London, signed up for a full membership this morning but admitted that “the split is quite embarrassing”.
But he added that he became a member “because of Zarah” and added he would be staying a member because “as long as the money is going to the party, then that’s all good”.
Support for Ms Sultana over allegations of sexism
Speaking to members who signed up this afternoon, there has also been quite a lot of sympathy for Ms Sultana’s claim that she has faced sexism.
Russel Whiting, a councillor for Gedling Borough Council, warned: “I think if you’ve got any committee where it’s five men and one woman then that’s demonstrably a boy’s club, and she’s right to fight for the future of the party and change that.”
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Layla, who as we heard has already cancelled her membership, admitted that she’s “inclined to side with Zarah on this”.
She explained: “Jeremy has started to align themselves with people who are not necessarily left leaning. It seems like it’s all the guys ganging up on her. But at the same time, it was unprofessional of her to go and launch the membership if she didn’t have the go ahead.”
Dan also told Sky News that while “the old guard are great and Corbyn has done a lot for this country”, he believes that “the future is with the young and Zarah’s politics are something I subscribe to”.
Sky News has contacted both Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana for comment.
