Jeremy Corbyn insists Your Party is united despite months of infighting with Zarah Sultana
Jeremy Corbyn has insisted your Party is united after a turbulent first few months marred by infighting and divisions with his co-leader Zarah Sultana.
Speaking at the party’s first conference in Liverpool, he said the party was now coming together because “division and separation will not serve the interests of the people we want to represent”.
The former Labor leader said: “We had a series of events in Liverpool last night and Zarah (Sultana) spoke at a wonderful rally and I very happily and proudly sent a message of support and solidarity to that rally and I’m grateful that that message was read at that rally.
“I was at a poetry and music event at Black E and Zarah posted to it.
“We need to come together and be united as a party because division and division will not serve the interests of the people we want to represent. So we are building the party on that basis now.”
His unity announcement comes after a turbulent first few months of internal division for the party as a dispute between Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana led to a failed membership drive and threats of legal action.
Ms Sultana complained that she was being subjected to a “sexist boys’ club” after supporters were invited to officially become members of the party and provide financial support to it. But Mr Corbyn described it as an “unauthorised email” and warned people not to sign up via the link in a statement published on social media just hours later.
Two MPs who helped establish the union also resigned; Last week Iqbal Mohammed said in a statement that he had decided to leave your Party and continue to serve the Dewsbury and Batley constituency as an Independent MP. Earlier this month, MP Adnan Hussain said he was withdrawing from the party’s “steering process”, citing concerns about factionalism and “implicit bias” against Muslims.
In his conference speech, the former Labor leader called for a “membership oversight committee” to be set up to “manage” the establishment of your party’s branches and said he wanted control of the party to be handed back to its members “as soon as possible”.
He continued to direct his criticism at his former party, while opposing the “top-down” way he and Ms Sultana were running your party from Labour.
“I’m tired of top-down parties. I’ve spent a lifetime in the Labor Party, mostly fighting the Labor bureaucracy. I don’t want to repeat that in your Party. I don’t want to repeat that experience.”
Mr Corbyn criticized Labour’s recent decisions on immigration; These include making refugee status temporary, subjecting it to review every 30 months, and sending refugees home if their country is deemed safe.
“We must challenge the government,” he said. “They have fueled hatred towards refugees. I say to anyone who thinks they will get something better. Think again. What you are seeing is an attack on human rights.”
“What you’re seeing is an attack on our civil liberties. We’re not participating in that attack. We’re on the other side of it.”
Labour’s recent Home Office decisions have led to praise from Reform; Danny Kruger, the former Conservative MP who defected to Nigel Farage’s party, told the House of Commons earlier this month: “I welcome the rhetoric that the Home Secretary has put out.”
Mr Corbyn continued: “If you want to defeat Reformation, you don’t do it by copying what Reformation did. You don’t do it by attacking jury trials, taking away our civil rights or our right to protest. What we need is something radical, a socialist alternative, rather than the false populism of Reformation or others. And it’s up to us, our party, your party to deliver that.”
