Ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana has accused Jeremy Corbyn of presiding over a “sexist boys’ club” in a dispute over the launch of a new left-wing party’s membership system.
The row erupted after supporters of the group, operating under the working name Your Party, received emails promoting annual membership at £55. Sultana encouraged sign-ups on social media, claiming more than 20,000 people had registered potentially raising £1m. Corbyn later dismissed the scheme as “unauthorised”, warning backers to cancel direct debits and saying legal advice was being sought.
In a detailed statement, Sultana insisted her actions were “in line with the roadmap” set out earlier in the week. She said she had been frozen out of official decisions and accused Corbyn and other MPs of excluding women from the working group.
“My sole motivation has been to safeguard the grassroots involvement that is essential to building this party,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club: I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely. They have refused to allow any other women with voting rights on the Working Group, blocking the gender-balanced committee that both Jeremy and I signed up to.”
Sultana also raised concerns over party finances, claiming that Corbyn’s long-time ally Karie Murphy and her associates had been given “sole financial control” of funds and conference arrangements. She contrasted this with the group’s original plan, which she said had been to safeguard money through MOU Operations Ltd overseen by Jamie Driscoll, Beth Winter and Andrew Feinstein until the party’s founding conference in November.
“This is, to be clear, members’ money and our members must decide how it is spent,” she said, adding that her portal was secure and legitimate. She called on Corbyn to meet her, publish agreed structures, and ensure financial and constitutional control was transparent.
“This party is more important than any one person,” she said, “and we all owe it to the movement to deliver a truly democratic and socialist party.”
Earlier, Corbyn had released a statement co-signed by MPs Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam, telling supporters the disputed membership site was not authorised. Sultana’s name was missing from the list of signatories.
The dispute is the latest sign of division within the emerging party, which has yet to confirm a name or hold its inaugural conference. Despite this, it has attracted more than 600,000 registered supporters and plans to finalise draft rules and policies ahead of regional assemblies in October and a founding conference scheduled for November.
