Relations between the former Labour MP Zarah Sultana and the five parliamentary colleagues with whom she is forming a new party have been strained for several weeks. This was hardly helped by her claim in September that her comrades, led by Jeremy Corbyn, were behaving like a “sexist boys’ club”. But now they have reached a new low, with Sultana apparently refusing to transfer a sum likely to total well over £1 million raised from would-be members from a company she controls to the new, still-unnamed party’s bank account.

Her spokesperson told me she fully intends to do so. But an email sent by Sultana, seen by UnHerd, says she will not make the payment unless the other MPs send her party documents which she claims they are “refusing to share”, despite her repeated requests.

I understand that Corbyn and the four other independent MPs, who won seats from Labour last year by campaigning against the party’s stance on Gaza, have been consulting lawyers. One source close to the male MPs told me they have “serious concerns” over both the money and possible breaches of data protection laws. Another pointed out that the sum at stake is so large that failing to transfer it is likely to jeopardise the party’s inaugural national conference, which is due to be held in Liverpool this month. Its agenda includes choosing a permanent name for what, for the time being, is still known as “Your Party”.

Allies of the male MPs also blame the increasingly bitter public row for some of the recent surge in support for the Greens under their new leader Zack Polanski, saying large numbers of younger voters who had signalled interest in Your Party via its website had “upped and left”. The legal and financial divisions run deeper, however, stemming partly from Sultana’s involvement in MOU Operations Ltd, a company established in April to handle Your Party funds and donations said to total at least £800,000. Earlier this week, its three original directors resigned, to be replaced by Sultana alone.

Additionally, the situation has been exacerbated by Sultana’s decision in September to set up a new “membership portal” website. The data protection concerns now being raised stem from the fact that this was publicised via email to the 800,000 people who had expressed online interest in Your Party, although the portal was entirely separate from the main Your Party site, was hosted on different servers and had not been approved by her colleagues.

The portal asked supporters to sign up as Your Party members for an annual fee of £55 or £25 for concessions. Some 22,000 people are thought to have done so, raising around £500,000. After furious objections from Corbyn and others, the site was closed.

I asked a source close to Sultana why she had established the portal without authorisation, given that Your Party already had a website through which donations could be made. Her reply: “I suppose she jumped the gun a little.”

In an email this week to a senior Your Party official, Sultana says she could not transfer the funds now controlled by MOU Operations to the firm that runs the party’s official bank account, Your Party UK Ltd, unless she is given “our Party’s constitution and financial scheme (as registered with the Electoral Commission), as well as any other relevant authorisations or governance documents”. She needs this, she claims, as “evidence regarding the governance and ownership of the bank account to enable the initial transfer”. The email states that she has twice asked for these documents previously, asking: “Is there a reason why you are refusing to share this documentation with me, which is delaying the initial transfer?”

She says she finds this “especially concerning” because she is also a director of Your Party UK Ltd, along with the five male MPs. Her spokesperson confirmed this, saying that although Sultana wished to transfer all MOU’s data and funds, “obviously, she has a duty to conduct essential due diligence as part of this process.”

One Your Party source told me he found Sultana’s failure to make the transfer “baffling”, given that the party’s draft constitution is a public document that will be debated and approved at the conference. “I can see no good reason why she hasn’t paid this money,” they said. “Meanwhile, all this infighting is causing immense damage.”

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David Rose is UnHerd‘s Investigations Editor.

DavidRoseUK

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