Zarah Sultana has said she will call off legal action in a move towards reconciliation in her bitter feud with Jeremy Corbyn over their fledgling party.
In a statement, the left-wing MP said she would put the argument behind her “for the sake of the party” and acknowledged that supporters felt “demoralised” over the row engulfing Your Party, the political outfit she established with Mr Corbyn in July this year.
Last week Ms Sultana claimed she had encountered a “sexist boys’ club” within the party amid a furious row over its membership system. On Thursday, supporters were contacted and urged to officially sign up and pledge their financial backing, but this was later described by Mr Corbyn as an “unauthorised email”. Hours later, he warned people not to respond to the link they had been sent.
On Friday Ms Sultana said she had instructed “specialist defamation lawyers” after being “the subject of a number of false and defamatory statements” about her launch of the membership system. But in a post on X (Twitter) on Sunday night, she said she was “determined to reconcile” and was in talks with Mr Corbyn.
“For the sake of the party, and as an act of good faith, I will not be pursuing legal proceedings despite the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against me,” she wrote in a statement posted on the platform. “Fascism is growing at the door. The stakes are too high for failure to be an option.”
She continued: “I know many people are feeling demoralised – I share that feeling. We find ourselves in a regrettable situation, but my motivation has always been to ensure the collective strength of our movement, put members first and build the genuinely democratic conference and socialist party we so urgently need.
“I am determined to reconcile and move forward. I am engaged in ongoing discussions with Jeremy, for whom, like all socialists of my generation, I have nothing but respect.”
As the row escalated last week, the party said it had reported itself to the UK’s data protection watchdog and claimed that a “false membership system has been unilaterally launched”.
Ms Sultana said she took the step because she felt she had been “sidelined” and “effectively frozen out” by Mr Corbyn and fellow independent MPs Ayoub Khan, Adnan Hussain, Iqbal Mohammed and Shockat Adam.
The Coventry South MP added: “Unfortunately I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club: I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely.”
Ms Sultana had said the link she posted online to sign up for Your Party was “safe, secure and legitimate”.
The party said the developments were a “blow for everyone who has put their hope in a real alternative” and that Ms Sultana “has not been excluded from any discussions”.
Your Party, which is yet to decide on an official name, has been seen as a potential challenger to Labour, Reform UK and the Green Party. More than 750,000 supporters have signed up since its launch earlier this year under the placeholder name of Your Party, according to Ms Sultana.
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