‘We had six MPs and four factions’: inside Your Party’s toxic power struggles

Some say Jeremy Corbyn is too non-committal for project to work, while others blame Zarah Sultana’s combative nature

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t an early meeting to set the path for what would become Your Party, participants quickly agreed on one thing: given the cliches about leftwingers forever falling out, at all costs they must avoid a descent into factionalism.

Six months on and the Liverpool venue hosting this weekend’s inaugural Your Party conference has been warned to expect potential disruption, including stage invasions by disgruntled members representing particular wings. Extra security guards have been hired.

How did an idea with so much potential traction and reach – hundreds of thousands of people signed up to support the idea of a movement spearheaded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana before it even existed – become so quickly and comprehensively bogged down in power struggles and infighting?