Zarah Sultana has hit out at the factionalism within Your Party that has been on stark display at its founding conference this weekend. She also slammed “the sight of a Muslim woman being manhandled and dragged out of conference”.
Speaking on the main stage, the MP for Coventry South said there have been “witch hunts” and “bullying” at the top of the new left-wing party, and declared she “will not stand for this”.
But she also apologised for “hiccups” in the foundation of the party, admitting that some of it was her “fault”.
Jeremy Corbyn announced on Sunday that the party’s name will remain Your Party, after a vote by members.
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The conference in Liverpool has been marred by infighting and allegations of “witch hunts”, with some members seemingly being expelled for belonging to the Socialist Workers Party.
They were removed from the venue, leading to Ms Sultana boycotting the first day on Saturday.
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But she attended on Sunday to give her speech from the main stage, and told the gathered members: “Before we move forward, we have to confront what took place yesterday.
“The expulsions, the bans, the censorship on conference floor are unacceptable. It’s undemocratic, it’s an attack on members and this movement.
“And those decisions were made at the top, not by you.”
“Many of those people expelled found out only after they had arrived in Liverpool. People who had travelled across the country, took time off work, booked hotels, spent hundreds of pounds that they could not easily spare, discovered at the door that they had been barred.”
She added: “And the sight of a Muslim woman being manhandled and dragged out of conference is something that should shame any party that claims to stand for equality and justice.
“These actions come straight out of the Labour right’s handbook, the same playbook we have all lived through for years – the witch hunts, the smears, the intimidation, the bullying, the legal threats and the leaks to the Murdoch press.
“Let me be absolutely clear, the members will not stand for this, the movement will not stand for this and I will not stand for this.”
‘I am sorry for the hiccups’
Ms Sultana made these comments just a few metres from co-founder Jeremy Corbyn, who was sitting at a table on the stage.
There have been allegations – denied by his spokesperson – that the Corbyn faction has been behind chaos.
Ms Sultana later took some responsibility for the chaotic launch of the party, which assumedly included her announcing the party reportedly before Corbyn wanted her to, as well as the launch of her own membership portal that has led to difficulties around the transfer of member data to the one Mr Corbyn set up, as well as £800,000 in fees.
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She said: “You may have noticed that the process of starting up this party has had some hiccups. Some of that is my fault, and for that I am sorry.
“But I want you to know that my aim from the very start has been to ensure that this party is led by you, the members, and not MPs.”
She added: “We have to get better at working with each other. We have to ensure that the best cure against any culture of backroom deals is people power and that’s why I’ve been fighting for maximum member democracy.”
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That reference to democracy was about a vote at the conference about whether the party should have a single leadership model, or a collective one.
Members voted for a collective leadership model, by a margin of 51.6% to 48.4%, which is being seen as a blow to Mr Corbyn, but also avoids a battle between him and Ms Sultana.
While the decision was celebrated by her, an ally of Mr Corbyn told our political reporter Faye Brown: “People have voted against utilising the biggest asset the party had – Jeremy.”
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‘Andrew is a parasite’
In the rest of her speech, Ms Sultana hit many of the expected topics – supporting Palestine, demanding the severing of all ties with Israel, criticising wealthy people and the press, and calling for the monarchy to be abolished.
She said: “The same people who run Britain want you to believe that every refugee is a rapist while they grab £12m of taxpayers’ money to protect a parasite called Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.”
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She added: “What a sick society we live in, where our political and media class bend over backwards for the royal family, including Prince Andrew, close friends with notorious paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“That’s our money that provided him housing, that’s our money that defended him in court, that’s our money that put food on his table. Well, not any more.
“We shouldn’t just abolish Andrew’s titles. We should abolish the monarchy itself.”
Read more:
Your Party votes to be led by members
Corbyn declines to call Sultana a friend
On Israel, the Coventry South MP declared to huge applause: “I am an anti-Zionist and if we fight for it, Your Party will be an anti-Zionist party. We must sever all ties with the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.
“We must expel the ambassador and shut down the embassy, and stand with the Palestinian people until every inch of their land is free, from the river to the sea, a single democratic state with equal rights for all.”
