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And this here precisely highlights the problem that a couple of individuals have with the direction that Zahra Sultana wants to take the new party, a battle which thankfully she appears to be winning
https://twitter.com/Labourheartland/status/1992401690029343135
This isn't an argument between socialists as hilariously satired by Monty Python, in a surprisingly accurate way, this is an argument between socialists and non-socialists.
You cannot have a socialist party which isn't socialist. Well obviously you can but one already exists, 5 years ago Sir Keir Starmer made "the moral case for socialism" and he is now absolutely determined that the current Labour government should devoid of anything vaguely socialist.
The Wigan Test: If Your Socialism Fails the Council Estate, It Fails Entirely
The Wigan test? Christ on a bendybus! Does that have the theme to the hovis advert playing behind it when you read it?
That sounds exactly like the kind of patronising, condescending bullshit so beloved of middle class lefties from Islington who couldn’t find Wigan on a ****ing map, never mind been to a council estate there. The irony! 🙄
‘The Socialism of the Hearth’ from ‘Labour Heartlands’ sounds just as wrapped up in backward-gazing, sepia-tinted horseshit as the Reform lot and their professed love of spitfires and Winston Churchill and the days of empire
‘The Socialism of the Hearth’ from ‘Labour Heartlands’ sounds just as wrapped up in backward-gazing, sepia-tinted horseshit as the Reform lot and their professed love of spitfires and Winston Churchill and the days of empire
Er, yes, that is exactly the point, well done for getting it!
These individuals who are unhappy with the direction that Zahra Sultana wants to take the new party would probably be happier in Reform.
If they want a socially conservative party with left-wing economic policies I believe that Nigel Farage's party is now saying that 50% of the utilities should be renationalised.
And as Muslims Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed will be welcomed with open arms by Nigel Farage, just like Zia Yusuf was/is.
Obviously they will have to tolerate islamophobia in his party and strongly support the zionist state, but hey, you can't have everything!
Or alternatively they could just join Starmer's Reform-lite Party (without any Leftie stuff). If they don't mind jumping on a sinking ship.
Hardly a purity test. If you actually bothered to read the BBC link which I provided you would understand that Adnan Hussain for example makes an attack on "the Left" in general, ie :
"At times the rhetoric used has been disturbingly similar to the very political forces the left claims to oppose."
It obvious that he doesn't consider himself to be part of the Left. So why on earth should he feel that a left-wing party is the right one for him?
YP is not being set up as a "left-wing party" which includes left-wingers and anti left-wingers We already have one of those, how's that turning out?
Btw out of interest why did you think that these couple of individuals might have been socialists/left-wing? You do realise that they stood and won their seats fundamentally on the single issue of opposing Labour candidates who supported the genocidal regime in Israel don't you?
You don't need to be particularly left-wing or socialist to oppose genocide, plenty of people with very conservative views do. It's not something which the Left have a monopoly over.
So, this is now a fight between two rival factions in a party with only two MPs?
In the red corner we have Zara Sultana and in the even redder corner we have Jeremy Corbyn, and a selection of misogynistic old trade union dinosaur’s, everyone else having already left due to ‘creative differences’
Overall, how would you say the revolution is presently going comrade?
I am not sure that two individuals can be classed as a "faction" but I guess actual facts don't really concern you binners, as you persist to pretend that this is a disagreement between socialists/left-wingers.
Besides, if this isn't actually a dispute between socialists/left-wingers then that would render your hilarious posting of stills from the Life of Brian even more pointless, and we couldn't have that now could we?
So yeah stick to your false narrative otherwise you might have to make your point in a more challenging way than simply posting pictures! 🤣
There have always been these death spiral socialist mini-parties floating around, occasionally attached to someone with wider name recognition.
Is there an exhaustive list somewhere of all the different 'socialist' entities that are putting up candidates occasionally? Socialist Party, SWP. Transform, Left Unity, Social Justice Party, Socialist Alliance, Communist Party, Revolutionary Communist Party, Socialist Labour Party, etc etc etc?
Your Party!!!! is simply one of these, but with the current advantage of a bit of name recognition for its leaders, which means all the inevitable infighting gets a bit of press coverage, which will continue until it either withers on the vine or splits into two or three partylets.
This story is actually a lesson in why it is so hard to form new political parties and gain any traction. You need a clear vision, but you also need a bit of marketing gravitas.
The task has also been rendered much harder when another party elects a new leader who espouses a broadly similar policy platform, just without a big red nose, a huge pair of oversized shoes and more baggage than Heathrow departures
What are you talking about? The clown who is broadly espousing similar policies to Nigel Farage's party (expect without the lefty re-nationalisation stuff) has been party leader for over 5 years
https://iandunt.substack.com/p/a-clown-government-elected-on-a-seriousness-e25
Stripping asylum seekers of their jewellery when they arrive. Deporting children. Keeping proven refugees in a state of perpetual administrative limbo for decades, so they can never put down roots or have any sense of security. The sort of thing someone proposes when they have lost any lingering sense of decency or moral vigour.
What are you talking about?
Seeing as this is a thread about a new party started by Mr Corbyn I'll go out on a limb and say he's talking about Jeremy Corbyn?
The task has also been rendered much harder when another party elects a new leader who espouses a broadly similar policy platform,
So what you're saying is that Your Party has won the argument because its policies have been stolen by rivals?
I'll go out on a limb and say he's talking about Jeremy Corbyn?
You would have thought so wouldn't you?
And yet as Ian Dunt's eloquent article points out the clown currently in UK is neither Jeremy Corbyn nor Nigel Farage but our Sir Keir Starmer. As Dunt points out :
People voted for Starmer because they wanted grown-up government.
Now where have I heard that before ?
Oh yeah, binners! According to binners the grown-ups are now in charge of the UK government.
FFS only a clown could have ended up with the second largest Labour majority in history, with all the massive political advantages that provided him with, and within 18 months reduced Labour to fourth position in opinion polls!
I reckon that Starmer should take a bucket of confetti at the next sitting of the House of Commons to throw at the Labour backbenches, and squirty clown crying eyes to express his sadness at so many of them losing their seats in less than 4 years time
Back up to second now, although the general point about squandering a mahoosive majority stands.
https://bsky.app/profile/electionmaps.uk/post/3m6gwjm5nac2r
The truth is that the electorate is far more volatile than it was 20 years ago, voting habits are far easier to break and voters are exposed to a constant barrage of information from a wide variety of sources, not all of it reliable. I would expect this to cause far greater polling swings against incumbent governments in between GEs. It's the equivalent of hearing the Man Utd fans on forums calling for the manager to be sacked when the side is mid-table.
Having said that, it's been an utterly disappointing period. Starmer just doesn't have the dynamism or inner belief needed to convert that kind of majority into social change at speed. Could simply be the fruits of a stagnant economy. Blair at least had somewhat of an economic upturn to fuel some higher spending on health before it all went to shit.
The different polling companies used different methodologies so you tend to get different results/ranking but with same general trends. One of the polling companies (I'm on the train so can't check)) try harder to include previously reluctant voters who may be more likely to vote now for challenger parties such as Greens or Reform. So they show higher for green/reform and lower Labour/Tory
TBH the polling is unlikely to be that good until a few elections and at least one GE has played through as there political landscape is so different now
But the consistent trends across all the polling is consistent enough to see what is going on though
Back up to second now, although the general point about squandering a mahoosive majority stands.
It shows no change for Labour. YouGov polls tend to show a lower level of support for Reform than some other pollsters.
1% in front of Badenoch's Tories and just 3% in front of the Greens is a truly appalling place to be for Labour. And they are only 4% in front of the LibDems FFS.
To make it even worse for Starmer the trend is showing support is slowly but consistently falling for Labour. If it carries on like this, and there is no evidence to suggest that it might change anytime soon, by the time of the general election in 3.5 years time Starmer will have reduced Labour to nothing more than a fringe party.
Except of course that Starmer won't be Leader of the Labour Party by the time of the next general election, whatever he is saying now.
Seeing as we apparently all love opinion polls, Your Party has managed to shed ⅓ of its potential support base since July: they've gone from 18% to 12% of voters that would even consider voting for them.
But tbh I don't think polls are terribly insightful anywhere.
2% of voters looking to vote for them as their first preference is fine... that's 1% for each* of them... that's higher** than for any other MP.
[ **No idea, just wondering what positive spin will be put on this. ]
[ *If we assume it's just the two "not the leaders" left come a general election. ]
But tbh I don't think polls are terribly insightful anywhere
Dunno, considering all the public shenanigans that have gone on since July a drop of only 6% does seem surprisingly low, but I still think that it gives some insight into YP's likely core support.
Although it would probably have been much better to wait until after this weekend's founding conference in Liverpool.
2% of voters looking to vote for them as their first preference is fine...
Tbh the weird bit for me was this:
"Around three in ten Your Party considers (28-30%) anticipate the new party being similar to Labour or the Liberal Democrats".
⅓ of people open to Your Party think it's going to end up the same as Labour or the Lib Dems?!?!
"Around three in ten Your Party considers (28-30%) anticipate the new party being similar to Labour or the Liberal Democrats".
⅓ of people open to Your Party think it's going to end up the same as Labour or the Lib Dems?!?!
That's one hell of a leap...... from "similar" to "the same as" ! In just the space of 2 sentences ! 🤣
I guess that it will depend on what people's perception of "similar" is.
Many people are switching from the Tories to Reform because they see Reform as similar as the Tories but not necessarily the same, otherwise there would be no point switching to Reform!
Likewise some people are likely to consider YP to be similar to Labour, as in allegedly left of centre, but not necessarily the same as Tory-Lite Labour.
Even allies of Corbyn say the former Labour leader can be hard to pin down, with an aversion to open conflict and a tendency to, as one person involved in the project put it, “disappear to his allotment for 24 hours without his phone”.
TBH this made me more sympathetic to Corbyn. The idea of trying to build anything with a bunch of Sultana-ites trying to do everything by WhatsApp and chasing zingers on social media at all times sounds exhausting. Going to the (metaphorical?) allotment occasionally seems like good work/life balance.
I wish he would disappear down his allotment for a lot longer than 24 hours!
The basic difference between Zahra Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn is that Sultana resigned from the Labour Party because she had the good sense to figure out that it was lost, whilst Corbyn was very reluctantly kicked out as he desperately tried to remain on the Labour Backbenches and maintain his doing bugger-all comfort zone.
That difference in attitude forms the basis of all the friction which currently exists imo. Plus Corbyn's tolerance of, and even attempts to work with, people with whom he shares no ideological commitment at all. It is the result of decades in the Labour Party, seven years ago it was Sir Keir Starmer today it's Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed.
Yes Corbyn's aversion to conflict is problem, all the more reason that he should step aside and let Sultana get on with it.
TBH this made me more sympathetic to Corbyn.
Think I said right at the beginning of this thread that Sultana and Corbyn (and the people behind them) were never going to be compatible. TBH though if Corbyn can't be arsed he needs to do one and let the younger generation get on with it. Sultana may be impetuous and attention-seeking but she also has energy and isn't stained with the bad smell of outdated 1980s socialism. She should probably join the green party but I doubt Polanski would want her stealing his thunder.
True but it is also her impetuousness (?) that gets her entangled in problematic legal and money tangles. She seems terminally online and thinks that announcing something in a tweet is the same as getting it done.
TBF I was never going to vote for YP so my carping is irrelevant. Maybe I'm just turning into my final form as a grumpy allotment dweller.
I wish he would disappear down his allotment for a lot longer than 24 hours!
I think I must have entirely misunderstood your opinion of Corbyn. What was all that defense of him due to his polling popularity and when I accused him of being a pantomime clown about? I thought you genuinely admired the guy.
There’s a guy (James Giles?) from ‘Your Party’ on Matt Chorley at the moment. He’s saying that they’re voting on the leadership model tomorrow and his preferred model would be shared leadership of an executive committee of 20.
Can you imagine 20 angry lefties coming to an agreed policy on anything whatsoever?
The 16 year discussion/argument about what to call the party, during the course of which 12 different rival factions will have been formed by disgruntled members, should be comedy gold 😂
She seems terminally online and thinks that announcing something in a tweet is the same as getting it done.
That doesn't actually reflect reality. Zahra Sultana is very active in the real world directly connecting people in small and mass gatherings. Last month she came to Croydon, a long way from her Coventry South Constituency, to speak and more importantly to answer questions. She also deals directly with the media, including the television, to argue the case and to face questions. The idea that she primarily operates behind a keyboard is frankly ridiculous.
And yes she does get things done, even if it means bouncing Corbyn out of his tranquil comfort zone by forcing his hand. If it wasn't Keir Starmer Corbyn would today be languishing on the Labour backbenches doing precious little. And if it wasn't for Zahra Sultana he would probably still be procrastinating about getting involved in a new radical left party.
The geezer needs a rocket up his arse, something which luckily Zahra Sultana seems to recognise.
There’s a guy (James Giles?) from ‘Your Party’ on Matt Chorley at the moment. He’s saying that they’re voting on the leadership model tomorrow and his preferred model would be shared leadership of an executive committee of 20.
Christ. *Supposedly* the Marxist entryists only want 11 people. The Politburo of the CPSU from the early 1970s (definitely some YP members' favourite political era) had only 18 voting members to control a country of 250 million people and fifteen republics.
Rumours have emerged that Counterfire – a Marxist and revolutionary socialist group, alongside the SWP – plan to propose an emergency motion to set up a new 11-person Your Party leadership team as soon as the conference begins on Saturday morning.
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/your-partys-big-weekend
The pre-conference purges have begun: Your Party attendees that are members of the SWP have *reportedly* been uninvited. Unsigned screenshot of uncertain origin here:
Obviously these SWP guys are just taking the piss like usual, but it does bring back the transitional awkwardness YP had: on one hand, saying that the founding conference will decide the policies of the Party, but on the other hand, Corbyn and Sultana being able to off the cuff decide that the party is anti-Zionist or that the Party won't allow membership of other parties.
I predict this thread will last longer than YP.
I’ll be amazed if YP makes it through the weekend.
They'll stretch it out for years, arguing with each other about how to best express solidarity with the slipper makers of Venezuela, but after a couple of days of bickering, I doubt anyone will think of them as anything other than completely irrelevant.
They’ll also recreate the life of Brian though, so we’ll all be able to have a right old laugh at ‘The Left’ reinforcing every cliche in the book
This weekend summarised…
Obviously these SWP guys are just taking the piss like usual, but it does bring back the transitional awkwardness YP had: on one hand, saying that the founding conference will decide the policies of the Party, but on the other hand, Corbyn and Sultana being able to off the cuff decide that the party is anti-Zionist or that the Party won't allow membership of other parties.
Actually Zahra Sultana personally supports dual party membership, so it has nothing to do with her. On the other hand I think is unacceptable. Which other party allows dual membership ffs? Organisations affiliating is a different matter.
The SWP have as usual been a pain in the arse locally and one individual in particular has been highly disruptive. Thankfully IME most YP members fully reject the disruptive shenanigans of the SWP so I can't see how their exclusion will not have widespread support.
The SWP have their own party YP isn't being set up for them.
I’ll be amazed if YP makes it through the weekend.
Like your prediction that Reform UK will implode before the next general election? How's that going? I'll remind you that they have been leading every single opinion poll since mid-April, they don't appear to be disappearing.
He’s saying that they’re voting on the leadership model tomorrow and his preferred model would be shared leadership of an executive committee of 20.
It's my preferred model too. I find the idea of one person being "leader" of a political party, a democratic political party, grotesque. Although that is obviously the preferred model of the Tories, Labour, and Reform, none of which can claim to have democratic structures in a meaningful sense.
Collective leadership is easily a better choice imo although I can see the problem for you binners, you love claiming that the Left engage in personality cults, despite you being happy with being a member of the Labour Party, I guess that a personality cult without an actual "personality" is okay 🤣
I wish he would disappear down his allotment for a lot longer than 24 hours!
I think I must have entirely misunderstood your opinion of Corbyn. What was all that defense of him due to his polling popularity and when I accused him of being a pantomime clown about? I thought you genuinely admired the guy.
I don't do hero worshipping of politicians, some like Bob Crow, Mick McGahey, and Che Guevara (who Jean-Paul Sartre described as "the most complete human being of our age") I greatly admire. In the case of Jeremy Corbyn much of what he says is spot on imo, in fact most of what he says, although I don't go much on all his PC bollocks.
But he has a helluva lot of shortcomings IMO, including his ridiculous past commitment to the Labour Party, honestly he would still be a member of the Labour Party today is Keir Starmer had allowed him to be.
But whatever my personal political prejudices i try not to ignore the facts. Which include the fact that he is no more unpopular with voters than Keir Starmer is, and that Starmer has done far far more damage to the Labour Party than Corbyn is alleged to have done.
Just one example...... it was Starmer who caused binners to cancel his Labour Party membership after I don't know how many years, not Corbyn.
Like your prediction that Reform UK will implode before the next general election? How's that going
I’ll let you know in three and a half years. In political terms, in the present climate, that’s an eternity
Farage might have set up 2 new parties by then
Collective leadership is easily a better choice
In theory. In practice it’d be ‘design by committee’ which anyone who’s been subjected to knows will always deliver the worst of all worlds.
I’d rather live under a dictatorship than 20 mad lefties endlessly bickering over trivia and infighting while everything goes to shit
What they’re proposing sounds very ‘Soviet’ and that went well
Well Your Party will be renamed this weekend.
Well Your Party will be renamed this weekend.
Or maybe not, if the circle of "Corbyn-whisperers" interpreting his thoughts are correct and he gets his way:
By the end of the weekend, if things go to plan, Your Party will have a new, official name. Options floated behind the scenes have been the Left Party, the People’s Party or even sticking with Your Party (as one insider suggested to me, is Corbyn’s preference).
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/11/your-partys-big-weekend
Options floated behind the scenes have been the Left Party, the People’s Party or even sticking with Your Party
I wish that were the case. The actual choice was really poor imo. "The Left Party" was Zahra Sultana's preferred choice and the "People's Party" was mine (although I preferred the People's Assembly) but neither were in the final short list, which was :
A) Your Party B) Our Party C) Popular Alliance D) For The Many
I voted C. I doubt that it will top the poll though.
People's Popular Front of Islington?
But perhaps it lacks the irony of Sir Keir Starmer leading a party called "Labour" ?