In a move that looks less like “new politics” and more like a blueprint for permanent internal warfare, the far-left party built around Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has voted to have no party leader whatsoever — instead embracing a communist-style politburo to run the organization.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pushed out of his old party after a series of antisemitism scandals, will not lead the new party he founded earlier this year. Despite Corbyn himself arguing for a traditional single-leader model (like every other modern democratic party), both he and his unpredictable co-founder Zarah Sultana will be sidelined.
Members of the newly branded “Your Party” voted at their Liverpool conference on Sunday to install a 16-member Central Executive Committee (CEC) made up of non-politicians and selected by the general membership. According to the BBC, the plan passed by only 51%, hinting that the party’s already deep divisions are nowhere near resolved.
The CEC — effectively a politburo — will control party resources, staffing, and strategic decisions. It will also enforce a “democratic whip” system to compel any MP to vote according to the party’s agenda. Candidate selection for local elections will be split between the CEC and the party’s MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, Shockat Adam, and Ayoub Khan.
A party spokesman tried to spin the leaderless structure as a virtue, saying it proves the party is “doing politics differently – from the bottom up, not the top down,” and railing against the “professional political class” in Westminster.
But the weekend’s conference made it clear that the Your Party’s internal chaos is far from over.
Co-founder Zarah Sultana boycotted the first day of the event after members — including some of her staff — were blocked from attending because they still belonged to other far-left groups such as the Socialist Workers Party. Sultana blasted the move as a “witch hunt” and insisted no one should be forced to choose between her new party and other socialist factions. Members agreed, voting overwhelmingly on Sunday to allow dual membership.
Although she rose to prominence as a Corbyn loyalist, Sultana has repeatedly clashed with him since the party’s formation. She even tried to pre-empt Corbyn at the party launch by announcing the new party herself and declaring she would be co-leader.
The infighting escalated in September when Sultana created her own membership portal, raising around £800,000 in donations. The move triggered a legal battle inside the party; she has returned £600,000 but says the remaining funds will be refunded once “legal details” are resolved. During the dispute, she accused Corbyn and senior officials of behaving like a “sexist boy’s club.”
Factional warfare has not spared the Your Party’s Muslim contingent either. Two founding MPs — Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed — quit the party earlier this month, citing a “toxic culture” toward Muslim men and alleging “clique-like behavior,” gatekeeping, and constant infighting.
With no leader, a narrow mandate for a politburo, ongoing legal battles, and identity-politics feuds tearing the movement apart, Your Party appears to be living up to its name — but only in the sense that nobody can agree on whose party it actually is.
