The left-wing party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana finally has an official leader four months after it was founded – but it’s not who you might think.
Your Party was founded by the two Independent and former Labour MPs and they remain its two most prominent figures despite a series of fallouts and controversy.
This weekend, at the party’s first ever conference at the ACC in Liverpool – where Labour also held its conference two months ago – hundreds of supporters are casting their votes on how the party will be structured and what its policies will be.
In a shocking twist, they’ve decided that the party shouldn’t be led by Corbyn or Sultana – but instead have a collective leadership role.
The announcement drew shocked reactions in the main conference hall, particularly when it was revealed the option won with just 51.6% of the vote.
A Your Party spokesperson said: ‘This vote shows that we really are doing politics differently: from the bottom-up, not the top-down.
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‘In Westminster we have a professional political class increasingly disconnected from ordinary people, serving corporations and billionaires instead of the communities they are supposed to represent. With a truly member-led party, we will offer something different: democratic, grassroots, accountable.’
The lead-up to the party’s inaugural conference has been marked by a series of public disputes, as ex-Labour MP Sultana clashed with Corbyn and other members of the parliamentary group named the Independent Alliance.
On Saturday, Sultana announced she would be boycotting the first day of the conference after members of another socialist party were blocked from entering the hall.
‘The reason we’re having this debate on the agenda with four options, none of which were particularly popular as far as I can see, is because there were amendments that were submitted by hundreds of members all around the country which talk about the issues which people on this conference floor wanted debated. Amendments which have been silenced because they call into question an unelected clique that have been brought in and who have been doing damage to this party.’
Her speech was replaced on the livestream with a caption saying ‘we will be back soon’.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.