Jeremy Corbyn to be Your Party’s parliamentary leader as Zarah Sultana loses out
Jeremy Corbyn defeated fellow MP Zarah Sultana to take control of your Party’s new leadership committee after a contest marred by months of social conflict, confusion and indecision.
Mr Corbyn is set to become the group’s parliamentary leader after his supporters won 14 of the 24 seats on your party’s central executive committee (CEC), double the seven seats won by Ms Sultana’s supporters.
In response, the former Labor leader said he wanted his “massive, socialist party” to take the fight to his successor Sir Keir Starmer and UK Reform leader Nigel Farage.
Last year, the leftist party preferred to elect a 24-person CEC rather than a single person leading the party. But the contest was seen as a proxy war between the two co-founders, with both Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana putting forward two rival slates of candidates.
Both also ran for election to the CEC’s “public servants” section, a prerequisite for becoming the party’s parliamentary leader.
On Thursday morning the party announced that Mr Corbyn’s group, The Many, had won and would now lead the party. Approximately 25,347 people out of 40,985 verified members of Your Party voted in the election; participation was 62 percent.
The founding of your party was marked by disagreements between the founders, including the announcement of the party’s founding and the “unauthorized” launch of a membership portal.
Ms Sultana boycotted the first day of your party’s founding conference in Liverpool because some of her supporters were excluded and members of the Socialist Workers Party were expelled. But the conference’s endorsement of the collective membership model was widely seen as a victory for Ms Sultana, as Mr Corbyn’s preference was to have a single leader.
After the result, Mr Corbyn said: “I am delighted that members voted for a mass, socialist party that is leading the fight against Starmer and Farage. Now the real work begins. We have a valuable opportunity to unite our movement around a bold vision for this country that creates a more compassionate, equal and peaceful world for everyone. I look forward to working with all members to make this vision a reality.”
He added that the UK was “in a dangerous time”. Fear of reform, separatism and racism should not be appeased; they must be opposed. “There is only one way we can defeat them: working together under the common goal of redistribution and peace.”
In her statement, Ms Sultana called on the party to “work together”. But the Grassroots Left group said your Party should be “the party of all the left and the party of the left” after losing to Mr Corbyn’s supporters.
In its statement, the group congratulated the successful candidates and thanked the members who voted for it, saying: “Your party should put an end to witch hunts or stitching and work together to become the party of the entire left. All those who were expelled should be reinstated.
“We now need a culture of mutual respect, open debate and a shared focus on the real problems we face: inequality, precarious work, collapsing public services, fascism and a political order that is failing working people.”
The new CEC will take control of the party shortly. One of your first priorities will be to plan for the May local elections and officially establish branches of your Party across the country.
Mr Corbyn’s The Many list campaigned to “end navel gazing” and “campaign on big issues” such as the cost of living and Palestine.
