Corbyn and Sultana at odds over Your Party leadership as conference opens | Jeremy Corbyn

Your party’s two most prominent figures are still divided over how the party should be run, with its inaugural conference kicking off this weekend.

Jeremy Corbyn confirmed to reporters on Saturday that he preferred a single leader and would likely defend that role, but co-founder Zarah Sultana said she would vote for collective leadership and did not believe parties should be run by “one-persons”.

The Guardian understands Sultana will run against Corbyn if members decide to elect a leader.

Delegates in Liverpool will choose between electing a single leader to lead the fledgling left movement or a collective of rank-and-file members who are not currently sitting as MPs or councillors.

The party has been beset by infighting since its plans were first announced in July, after Sultana announced he was quitting Labor, saying he and Corbyn would jointly lead a new political organisation. Corbyn’s allies were quick to say no final decision had been made.

The pair reached a fragile peace, with Sultana likening their relationship to that of Noel and Liam Gallagher. Corbyn said on Saturday he would “probably prefer the single model of leadership” but would “live with it regardless”. [members] decide”.

Asked by the Guardian whether he would run, Corbyn said: “I am very happy to serve the party in whatever capacity they have decided they want me to serve.”

Sultana said he supported collective leadership due to the lack of the option of two co-leaders. He said: “I have publicly supported a co-leadership model. It is a shame that this was not given to members as a voting option and it is quite worrying that the decision was made by a faceless, anonymous bureaucrat.”

He said he “advocates for collective leadership” because he feels it offers “maximum member democracy”.

“I don’t think movements should be led by single people. I think you should represent the broad mass movement,” he said. “This allows the responsibility to be shared and the opinions of more people to be listened to. It strengthens the movement. With this, a structure emerges that is the parliamentary convenor. They are also elected by the members.”

“If the members choose single leadership, I would consider throwing my hat in the ring. Then whatever the members’ decision is, I will respect it and stand fully behind it.”

Corbyn and Sultana said they would consider making election deals with other left-wing parties, including the Greens.

Sultana said: “I think we need to work with the Greens and other parties to stop Nigel Farage from getting into Number 10. That should be the guiding principle for all of us who want to stop fascism.”

Corbyn said it would “mainly be a decision for the local branches of your Party” to decide what is best in their field, but he also said he would not rule out co-operating with the Green party, which has grown in popularity under its new leader Zack Polanski.

Tensions between former Labor leader Corbyn, now an independent MP for Islington North, and Sultana, who represents Coventry South, escalated further after Sultana launched a membership portal with nearly £800,000 in donations and member data.

Sultana said on Saturday £600,000 had been transferred to You from a holding company and the rest of the money would be sent once obligations were met.

He said he now got on “really well” with Corbyn and that the pair had communicated about the conference, saying they wanted it to be “a positive, joyful experience where members feel empowered”.

But he was not present when he gave his opening speech to members on Saturday morning amid tensions with some of his allies. Relations between Corbyn’s former chief of staff, Karie Murphy, and Sultana are believed to be particularly tense.

Sultana admitted that there is still a “toxic culture” in your Party that leads to “bullying, intimidation and smearing” and “deliberate acts of sabotage”.

He said: “I can absolutely say that the toxic culture I live in needs to be eradicated. I can say that it is straight from the handbook of the Labor right. It is shocking to have this experience in a new left, socialist party. We need to smash this culture.”

“I think there are people around Jeremy – not Jeremy himself – who have learned the wrong lessons from their time in the Labor Party, where they have been on the wrong side of smears, sabotage, attacks on the right-wing press… They are now using the same tactics when we really should be able to debate and have a healthy climate where we can disagree.”

Corbyn called for unity in his speech on Saturday. “We need to come together as a party and be united because division and division will not serve the interests of the people we want to represent,” he said.

He also called for “public, democratic ownership” of the water industry, chanted “free, free Palestine” and called on party members to “campaign for true socialism and true social justice forever”.