Feuds, boycotts and the birth of Your Party

"Back then he spoke to a party scarred by infighting, just over a year away from a historic defeat in the 2019 general election. As he stepped on stage to address his start-up political party on Saturday, much had changed. Not only is Corbyn no longer the Labour leader, he has been kicked out of the party an event that set him on the path to founding Your Party."

"Absent from the audience was a quarter of the party's parliamentary contingent after Sultana had refused to enter, angry over what she saw as "faceless bureaucrats" kicking out members who also belonged to the Socialist Workers Party. Party officials said they had been expelled due to a clear breach of the rules that banned members from belonging to other political parties. And they were not the only ones missing."

Your Party's founding conference has been overshadowed by internal splits over money, leadership and the party name. The conference opened with expulsions of members and founding MP Zarah Sultana boycotting the first day in protest of what she called a "witch hunt". The party has adopted a name and a constitution establishing a "revolutionary" system controlled by ordinary members rather than a single leader. Jeremy Corbyn addressed a party still mired in factional infighting after his expulsion from Labour. A quarter of the party's parliamentary contingent stayed away and expected delegate numbers fell from 13,000 to 2,500, leaving the venue feeling sparsely attended.

Read at www.bbc.com