38 minutes ago, Iz 🌟 said:

This morning, an email went out to people who signed up to the Your Party mailing list, asking them to sign up - set at £55 for a year. All apparently normal and expected with their timetable, I'd have expected they get up paid membership. Sultana posted a show of support for this, glad that over 20,000 people had already signed up as full paid members.

This afternoon, Corbyn put out a statement saying that that email was sent in error, that the membership process is still being set up and that anyone who had signed up should cancel their payments. Notably, this statement was signed by all of the independent MPs except Sultana.

Sultana's posted a follow-up statement claiming that she's being pushed out of the process, being sidelined by the other MPs, some claims of sexism and that her intention is to safeguard the grassroots movement. Definitely some maneuvering by her to try and retain control I think, though I'm definitely more sympathetic to her vision of what the party should be.

It's a disorganised, chaotic, embarassing mess essentially.

Sounds like she got played.

I might as well come out and say I was cynical about this from day 1. The strategy is all over the show. Are none of these people actually in this job because they are good strategically minded and organisers of people? Maybe I'm annoyed because that's my skillset.

1 hour ago, J00prstar said:

Sounds like she got played.

I might as well come out and say I was cynical about this from day 1. The strategy is all over the show. Are none of these people actually in this job because they are good strategically minded and organisers of people? Maybe I'm annoyed because that's my skillset.

An expensive vanity project with an alliance on one single issue (Palestine).

This is going to be the problem with the left and is what the Democrats are stuggling with too. In turmoil there's a power struggle. At least the Greens are a cohesive Party,

The frustrating thing is that the popular will for something like this from the public is clearly there, it's just being let down by the politicians that should be responsible for getting it going - letting their own egos get in the way of building a movement. Though something to be said for parties being organic and not launched like one is launching a company (see also. Reform Ltd).

Polanski is doing a lot better at building a movement and being a steady, good operating face of it, it's just a shame he's tied to the party structure of the Greens.

It's a shame really. This could have worked but I just had a feeling the infighting would be a problem.

Plus the single issue matter. Forgive my ignorance but as awful as the events in the Middle East are, what can a political party here do?

Yeh thought the same about this in terms of there’s no room on the left with the greens - it’s just splitting the vote!

i mean the greens can always work with your party and be strategic in elections but the moment this new party was plagued by transphobic mps i knew the party would struggle to take off, though the greens might have a similar issue with one of their deps 👀. didn't foresee the party in tatters from membership fees tho

there's definitely cohesion in building a movement to counter the horrifying rise of the far right, and frankly this is a big gap to fill yet with huge potential, so zack please don't f*** this up x

1 hour ago, uhsting said:

i mean the greens can always work with your party and be strategic in elections but the moment this new party was plagued by transphobic mps i knew the party would struggle to take off, though the greens might have a similar issue with one of their deps 👀. didn't foresee the party in tatters from membership fees tho

there's definitely cohesion in building a movement to counter the horrifying rise of the far right, and frankly this is a big gap to fill yet with huge potential, so zack please don't f*** this up x

This was not a serious party though. The Party would fund Corbyn to do rallies and give him some political clout to act as a protest, but as usual, he would achieve rhe square root of absolutely nothing and end up enabling the things he allegedly stands against!

The Left and Centrists are going to have to work together and find common ground/compromises on a number of issues/. Problem is, I don't think there's much appetite for this at the moment and as usualy, politics is often dominated by egos.

Not gonna lie sometimes I even think about getting involved in politics myself. I don't understand why the Left (centre to an extent too) don't seem to have anybody whatsoever who wants to play to win right now.

Over and over again there is no strategy beyond having an idealistic ideology, aiming to do some things - with poor comms and public outreach - and then just expecting that to be enough - even with the full knowledge that on the opposing side to them is a hostile media; an opposition party that will blatantly lie and not be called on it; and a public that are primed to be suspicious of them.

There is SO MUCH they could be doing to dent or mitigate these compounding issues and they're just doing none of it as far as I can see? Like, wtf.

Yeah, in some respects it feels like an open goal but no one's taking it.

On 04/07/2025 at 22:28, Suedehead2 said:

Scotland only uses the Alternative Vote for byelections when there is only one seat being contested. Otherwise, they use the Single Transferable Vote which has always been my preferred voting system. They are both preferential systems but STV is proportional, AV isn't.

Only for the cooncil tho. For Holyrood it’s a bast*rdised additional member system designed for permanent minority governments and to keep the SNP out of power (lol at both). Similar to the Bundestag but with no overhang seats to even out the proportionality for the nationwide vote share.

All three elections (previously 4 with the EU) in Scotland use a different electoral system

On 25/07/2025 at 17:23, J00prstar said:

Frankly, economically leftwing and socially conservative is about the polar opposite of my politics, so I'd be disappointed if this party fired down that route.

If they did this, they would be the second new political party in the G7 with this set up to have appeared post-COVID. This is the playbook of BSW in Germany who are an offshoot of Die Linke (who Are in part the former communist dictatorship of east Germany)

Very interesting trends across borders of this desire for Social Conservatism with Economic Liberalism

22 hours ago, J00prstar said:

There is SO MUCH they could be doing to dent or mitigate these compounding issues and they're just doing none of it as far as I can see? Like, wtf.

The right also argue less amongst themselves. They can just decide to target one ethnicity or whatever and they'll all follow.

Whereas we tend to argue amongst ourselves over everything. They need to sort that out.

The right just love power and have very little principles!

Comical though it is watching this venture implode, I’m almost finding myself feeling sorry for Jez. Has there ever been such a bratty politician as Sultana?!

On 29/07/2025 at 21:02, Tafty said:

Looks like “The Left Party” will be the name… gah. They need something more inconspicuous & obvious imo. They may well be a left party, but it’s not going to be easy to get new people to your side who may be more center leaning etc..

People will see that name and won’t need to delve further. Whereas something a bit less obvious and people will research out of curiosity etc..

(Does that make sense lmao)

At this rate perhaps 'the Leftovers party' might be more appropriate!

2 hours ago, Julian_ said:

Comical though it is watching this venture implode, I’m almost finding myself feeling sorry for Jez. Has there ever been such a bratty politician as Sultana?!

Ok, not to double up on comments, but I'm pretty disheartened by the online reaction I'm seeing to the Sultana-Corbyn split - Sultana is being portrayed using all the usual unpleasant terms for a woman when I don't see that any of them actually apply; 'bratty', 'whiny', 'unable to govern', 'in over her head' etc.

If anything my take on the split is that the Gaza MPs, who are mostly-socially-conservative Muslim men, have managed to portray themselves to Corbyn as if that wasn't their main policy position and he is siding with them and agreeing with them that Sultana is some kind of problem here. But Sultana is the one who started the party in the first place - literally given that she was the one who spearheaded the first announcement.

It's certainly a poor look for Corbyn, forced out of the Labour party on anti-semitism claims, to next sign up with a bunch of conservative Muslim guys whose uniting principle seems to be that they're vocally anti-Israel and otherwise don't really agree with any of the politics Corbyn previously claimed to stand for. That makes it look like being anti-Israel (or even anti-Jewish altogether) is his number 1 principle that any other is subordinate to.

4 minutes ago, J00prstar said:

Ok, not to double up on comments, but I'm pretty disheartened by the online reaction I'm seeing to the Sultana-Corbyn split - Sultana is being portrayed using all the usual unpleasant terms for a woman when I don't see that any of them actually apply; 'bratty', 'whiny', 'unable to govern', 'in over her head' etc.

If anything my take on the split is that the Gaza MPs, who are mostly-socially-conservative Muslim men, have managed to portray themselves to Corbyn as if that wasn't their main policy position and he is siding with them and agreeing with them that Sultana is some kind of problem here. But Sultana is the one who started the party in the first place - literally given that she was the one who spearheaded the first announcement.

It's certainly a poor look for Corbyn, forced out of the Labour party on anti-semitism claims, to next sign up with a bunch of conservative Muslim guys whose uniting principle seems to be that they're vocally anti-Israel and otherwise don't really agree with any of the politics Corbyn previously claimed to stand for. That makes it look like being anti-Israel (or even anti-Jewish altogether) is his number 1 principle that any other is subordinate to.

It's six of one, half a dozen of the other. Corbyn wants a vehicle to push what he is great at (rallies) and clerarly they are all united by a single issue (Palestine). It's why I laughed at this Party. I totally understand the enthusiam from lots of people to get behind people, but you are literally supporting a Party which is united on one issue and disagree heavily on several others.

As for Sultana, she was itching for a fight and lost the whip. I can understand being principled, but it was needless from her. Then ended up getting invovled with Corbyn and he's quite clearly pulled a fast one on her. Well, not Corbyn, more likely Corbyn's close circle. It's a bit like Chuka Umunna.

maybe time to go all-in on greens?

40 minutes ago, J00prstar said:

Ok, not to double up on comments, but I'm pretty disheartened by the online reaction I'm seeing to the Sultana-Corbyn split - Sultana is being portrayed using all the usual unpleasant terms for a woman when I don't see that any of them actually apply; 'bratty', 'whiny', 'unable to govern', 'in over her head' etc.

If anything my take on the split is that the Gaza MPs, who are mostly-socially-conservative Muslim men, have managed to portray themselves to Corbyn as if that wasn't their main policy position and he is siding with them and agreeing with them that Sultana is some kind of problem here. But Sultana is the one who started the party in the first place - literally given that she was the one who spearheaded the first announcement.

It's certainly a poor look for Corbyn, forced out of the Labour party on anti-semitism claims, to next sign up with a bunch of conservative Muslim guys whose uniting principle seems to be that they're vocally anti-Israel and otherwise don't really agree with any of the politics Corbyn previously claimed to stand for. That makes it look like being anti-Israel (or even anti-Jewish altogether) is his number 1 principle that any other is subordinate to.

Quite. Sultana's made some missteps here and I think her ambitions as a major leader of the left are done for the moment, but it's far from the first time undeserved, belittling descriptors have been made about young, action-oriented left-wing female politicians and I've even regularly seen them applied at Sultana herself before.

Up to now she was doing a great job at appearing like one of the only MPs in Parliament who actually gave a shit about moral causes and calling to do the right thing in terms that made her seem like one of the only politicians who both wanted to commit to action and for those things to not be terrible. Joining up with Corbyn was a probably necessary strategy because he still had a stranglehold over what should be the popular left in this country, but for inexplicable reasons in his old age he's siding more with these conservative Muslim MPs that should be nowhere near a left movement and letting that power struggle happen, and Sultana should have never let that be a part of the deal - the British left is not and should not be a vehicle for Islamism - not to say that Muslims aren't welcome in the left but as part of a pluralistic movement where their religion doesn't dictate policy, rather than it being all too easy for the popular image of the party to be Muslim-dominant which limits its reach. Hopefully it moves the left beyond Corbyn for good, for all that sneering detractors said that we were beholden to 'Magic Grandpa' circa 2015 and 2021, if anyone on the British left is picking a side in this sorry debacle, it's with Sultana.

This party could have been just what the left needed, that is the tragedy, but being too wedded to Corbyn sank it. Indeed, thankfully Zach Polanski is being outstanding on the PR front for the Greens and the worries about vote overlap will now be gone, though my slight reservations about the residual Green Tory/anti-nuclear views stand, I'll be watching them closely in the hopes that they do emerge as the horse to back.