Latest news with #hardLeft
Telegraph
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
If you're a hard-Left cultist, this is indeed Your Party
Oh, the relief! Yes, the long wait is over. Three weeks after former Labour MP Zarah Sultana announced that she would be launching a new party – and not only that but would also be leading it alongside Jeremy Corbyn (although, oops, it soon emerged she hadn't actually asked him) – here it is. Your Party is born. I guess it depends on how you define 'Your'. If you mean a party for rancid hate-mongers, hard-Left ideologues, economic basket cases and other cultists then yes, it is indeed your party. Or, more accurately, one of your parties, because there has never been a shortage to choose from. Take your pick from, among myriad others, the Workers' Party, the Socialist Labour Party, the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers' Party, which sometimes make me wonder if they were the ones satirising Monty Python's Judean People's Party and People's Party of Judea, rather than the other way round. Your Party is barely an hour old and, deliciously, it's already the subject of a split. Or rather, it was before it had even been formally born. On the day Ms Sultana first revealed the new party three weeks ago, George Galloway leapt into denouncing mode: 'There has been no contact with us about this,' he spat out on his social media feed. 'We can't join it due to significant differences on the issues of'… oh, let's not lose the will to live quite yet. No one except Galloway, Sultana, Corbyn and the rest of the bunch of not so merry men and women gives a damn about their specifics of their internecine squabbles. Suffice to say that they're busy doing what they always do. But whoopee, we now have a bright shiny new party for the not so bright Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana to lead. Presumably Ms Sultana – who likes to portray herself as some sort of principled warrior, rather than just another failed politician afraid that after being kicked out of her former party, her career will be over before she reaches her mid-30s – will now insist on a recall petition by her constituents in Coventry South, given that in 2020 she voted for MPs who voluntarily change their party affiliation being subject to such a petition. Meanwhile, I have just spotted a pig flying outside my window. But let's not quibble. Who wouldn't want to join this exciting new venture and join the man who led Labour to its worst election performance since 1935 and whose Labour Party was found to have breached the Equality Act by committing unlawful harassment against Jews? Who wouldn't want to go along for the ride with Ms Sultana, whose desperate need for attention led her to scream 'We are all Palestine Action' in the Commons chamber in support of the proscribed terror group? Who wouldn't want to be a member of a party that seems purpose built to attract the more voluble and incendiary of the so-called Free Palestine hate marchers? And who wouldn't want to be part of a group that is, as its website reveals, 'managed by Peace and Justice Project Ltd'? That's the same Peace and Justice Project set up when Corbyn had the Labour whip removed, whose patrons include Noam Chomsky, rapper Lowkey, Ken Loach and Jeremy's old mucker Len McCluskey who was, it was revealed yesterday, accused by an investigation commissioned by his old union of overruling staff and lawyers to sign a contract for a building project which cost the Unite union £125m, despite being valued at just £38m (an allegation he denies)? What a starry, storied cast that is. And what a thrill the next few years promise.
Telegraph
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Corbyn launches hard-Left ‘Your Party' to challenge Starmer
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana have confirmed the launch of a new hard-Left party to fight Sir Keir Starmer's Labour. The former Labour leader and his fellow now-independent MP said it was 'time for a new kind of political party' in a statement on Thursday. The pair have invited voters to sign up to the party via the website although The Telegraph understands the new project will not be called Your Party and that its name is to be confirmed. It comes after Mr Corbyn told activists that the new party would be established in time to fight Labour nationwide at the local elections in May next year. In a joint statement, Mr Corbyn and Ms Sultana said: 'It's time for a new political party. One that belongs to you. 'The system is rigged. The system is rigged when 4.5 million children live in poverty in the sixth-richest country in the world. The system is rigged when giant corporations make a fortune from rising bills. 'The system is rigged when the Government says there is no money for the poor, but billions for war. We cannot accept these injustices – and neither should you.' Opinion polls have suggested that a new party led by Mr Corbyn could win about 10 per cent of the vote and peel away support from Sir Keir in a similar way to how Reform UK has hurt the Tories on the Right. But Labour dismissed the prospect of the new party, with a source saying: 'The electorate has twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn led party.' Mr Corbyn's statement went on to attack Sir Keir's policies on public ownership and call for higher taxes on 'the very richest in our society' as well as the 'mass redistribution of wealth and power'. It also called on the Government to end all arms sales to Israel, which it accused of committing 'genocide' in Palestine. The statement continued: 'Our movement is made up of people of all faiths and none. The great dividers want you to think that the problems in our society are caused by migrants or refugees.' It's time for a new kind of political party - one that belongs to you. Sign up at — Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) July 24, 2025 This will be seen as a thinly-veiled swipe at Sir Keir's crackdown on migration, and the controversy that followed his warning that Britain risked becoming an 'island of strangers' in the wake of record levels of net migration in recent years. Sir Keir went on to say that he regretted his choice of words but not the message behind them. The website reads: 'Sign up to build this party, together. Soon, we'll host an inaugural founding conference so you can help shape how your party works, what it stands for, and how we organise to win. 'Fill in this form so that Your Party, and the new party that develops from it, can update you on news, activities and ways to get involved.'
Telegraph
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Be careful what you wish for, Owen, ethnic tribalism may engulf us all
It is not very British to wish death to things. That's a translation of an Arabic chant that has been injected into our culture by the hard-Left. Welcome to Britain of 2025. The departure from traditional slogans like 'down with' in favour of 'death to' in the progressive lexicon is symbolic. For years, the Corbynites and jihadis have been travelling in tandem, or as Magic Grandpa himself once put it, as 'friends'. Now we are seeing them converge. In the process, the Left is being dragged away from Britain's shared values and customs and into ugly new depths. Take the The Guardian firebrand Owen Jones. Don't sniff: he has 500,000 fans on Instagram, almost 800,000 on YouTube and a million followers on X. On the day Zarah Sultana announced her new political venture with Jeremy Corbyn, Jones couldn't contain his excitement. 'We need a Red-Green Alliance to tax the rich, invest in people and services, support public ownership, stop arming genocide,' he posted. This was the first time I'd seen that term used outside of a disparaging context. 'Red,' of course, means the hard-Left, while 'Green' in this context appears to refer to sectarian Muslim voters. Is that what you meant, Owen? Ever since the Enlightenment, our political preferences have been distinct from ethnic or religious backgrounds. Hindus or Jews or Sikhs may have a particular fingerprint of priorities, but they vote like any other citizen according to their consciences, not as a tribe. Some Hindu Britons may tack to the Left, others to the Right. Members of Conservative Friends of Israel may include many Jews, as well as Gentiles, but it is not an alliance between Conservatives and Jews, seen as two distinct groups. And, of course, there is also a Labour Friends of Israel. According to our way of doing things, it would be nonsensical to call for a coalition between a political party and an ethnic bloc. Ironically, it was Britain's emphasis on individual rights that allowed the successful integration of outsiders. Half of my family is Jewish, from both Sephardi and Ashkenazi lineages, while the other is mixed British and Burmese. They could all belong to this country – indeed, fight for it – due to the separation of ethnicity and Britishness. Different relatives voted in different ways. This is unique to the West. As Sir Roger Scruton observed: 'Our obligations to others, to the country and to the state have been revised in a direction that has opened the way to the admission of people from outside the community – provided that they, too, can live according to the liberal ideal of citizenship.' This is our miracle. Only now it is being undone. Before our eyes, great numbers who reject Scruton's 'liberal ideal of citizenship' are organising along tribal lines. Once this foundation-stone is lost, the cathedral of our civilisation will be in danger of collapsing into tribalism, demolishing the synagogue within it. In truth, this has been done to us by centrist fundamentalist elites. Did they really think that abandoning our schools, universities, public institutions and – worst of all – our borders to radical progressive ideologues would have no effect? The backlash against the proscription of Palestine Action was another sign of this cultural shift. In one revealing video, a middle-class activist in a short skirt and two keffiyehs, flying a Palestine flag, accused the government of choosing 'war and profiteering'. Her closing remark was chilling. 'As always,' she chuckled gleefully, 'I cannot wait for the West to fall.' God knows what she hoped would replace it. But it couldn't be clearer. This is not Israel's problem, it's ours.
Telegraph
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Leading Corbynites reject new party
Leading Corbynites have vowed to stay in Labour rather than leave to join a new hard-Left party. Zarah Sultana, an MP, announced on Thursday night that she had resigned from the party to set up a new one with Jeremy Corbyn. But on Friday morning, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott both told The Telegraph they would not be signing up. The Telegraph understands that Clive Lewis, shadow defence secretary under Mr Corbyn, also intends to stay in Labour. Mr Corbyn has not yet broken his silence to say whether or not he supports the new party. The Telegraph understands that talks have been going on for weeks about how to harness Left-wing and Muslim anger to defeat centrists such as Wes Streeting at the next election. Mr McDonnell was shadow chancellor during Mr Corbyn's five years as the head of the Labour Party. He was suspended by Labour whips last year for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Asked whether he would be joining the new party. He said: 'Just to be absolutely clear, I am a Labour Party member. 'I have had the whip suspended, that's all, and I expect it back.' Referring to Ms Sultana, he said: 'I am sad she's gone but I am remaining in the party and hope the whip will be restored soon.' Ms Abbott was shadow home secretary under Mr Corbyn. Asked whether she would join the new party, she said: 'No.' The Telegraph understands that talks have been going on for some time about how to replicate the success of Mr Corbyn and four Muslim MPs who beat Labour candidates in last year's election. In other seats, independent candidates came close to unseating major figures. Mr Streeting won his Ilford North seat by only 528 votes following a strong showing by independent Leanne Mohamad. In Birmingham Yardley, safeguarding minister Jess Phillips has a majority of only 693 against a Worker's Party candidate. That party is led by George Galloway. Conversations centred around whether there should be a non-aggression pact in such seats so that no more than two anti-war or anti-Zionist candidates stand to do as much damage as possible to the Labour vote. Others raised the issue of starting a new party. It is understood that Mr Corbyn allowed such talk to continue without specifically endorsing it. When Ms Sultana decided to jump ship on Thursday night, Mr Corbyn is believed to have been dismayed and annoyed. She may have been encouraged by a poll published last week which showed that a Corbyn-led party could garner 10 per cent of the vote, taking votes from the Greens as well as Labour. Labour insiders believe that candidates to leave the party include Apsama Begum, the MP for Poplar and Limehouse. The new party is as yet unnamed, but Ms Sultana said it will comprise other independent MPs, along with campaigners and activists. It raises the prospect of a split on the Left that mirrors the divide between Reform UK and the Conservatives on the Right. A recent poll found that a new Left-wing party could win 10 per cent of the vote in a blow to Labour, which would be tied with the Conservatives on 20 per cent. Announcing the move, Ms Sultana said the next election would be a choice between 'socialism or barbarism'. The Coventry South MP said the new party would be fighting against the sort of benefit cuts Sir Keir tried and failed to get through the Commons last week, and speak out against what she described as the 'genocide' in Gaza. The announcement could pile further pressure on Sir Keir to move to the Left, just days after he was forced to make a humiliating U-turn on welfare cuts. A total of 49 of his MPs rejected the plans, which would have seen the number of people able to access disability benefits slashed. Ms Sultana and Mr Corbyn will hope that many Labour supporters who also opposed Sir Keir's plans will flock to join his party. Politico reported 'Real Change' had been mooted as a possible name for the new movement but nothing had been decided. Mr Galloway said his Workers Party would not be joining up thanks to 'significant differences on the issues of trans and LGBTQ+, the Russia-Ukraine war, net zero and other things'. 'But we are open to an electoral agreement which avoids us both fighting each other for the benefit of Keir Starmer.'
