Now IS the time for a new party of the left!
JVL Introduction
Andrew Murray’s scathing assessment of Keir Starmer’s role as Labour leader, which we reproduce below, says “the stench of decay is hanging over not just the Starmer administration but the Labour Party itself.”
When Murray wrote his piece for the Morning Star, speculating about the prospects for a serious socialist alternative filling the gaping void on the left in British politics, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana had not yet put out a joint statement on the subject.
That changed today with both announcing on social media:
It’s time for a new kind of political party – one that belongs to you. Sign up at yourparty.uk.
Looking back over its own history of struggle it said:
If the new party can learn anything from our journey, it’s this, trust the workers. We’re not here to follow. We’re here to lead.
NWI
This article was originally published by Morning Star on Wed 23 Jul 2025. Read the original here.
Starmer’s revenge: booting an increasingly dead horse
If Labour MPs who rebelled over the welfare reforms expected to be listened to, they shouldn’t have underestimated the vindictiveness of the Starmer regime. But a new left party that might rehome them is yet to be established.
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What a great article. Labour is finished, have faith in Your Party ✊
What the new party needs is ordinary people committed to socialism not Labour MPs who should have left their genocidal party long ago
If only Andrew had waited one more day, before penning this article!
‘…the squabble over its leadership…’ is a non-starter. The Leadership will be decided by the Membership, in due course – as it was in the not too distant past, in the Labour Party. The same, with policies – and the name of the party. ‘Your Party’ is a ‘working title’, only.
Why are journalists so invested in the name, when it is the policies that are the most important?
In less than twenty-four hours, 140,000+ people have signed up for this ‘Left’ initiative. Something else, more worth focusing on, than the name.
Ok, but let’s not forget that there is nothing anti-establishment about Jeremy Corbyn. He has been a member of The Labour Party for 58 years. That is a lifetime of working FOR the establishment.
As of some minutes ago (12.23pm Fri), 190,000 signed up for the new party. The exponential rise in support shows how much the UK wants something OTHER than the largest political parties offer.
I hope Labour activists at CLP level throughout the UK join up and use their organisational skills, contacts etc to strengthen the new party.
A new party which saw itself as an open-minded progressive alliance happy to work with Greens, SNP, Plaid etc furthering policies of common interest might be more effective and popular than the “silo” parties now alternating in government.
We have only 4 years now (apparently) in which to prevent climate change becoming wholly unpredictable (and probably unmanageable).
announcement at c 11.00 on 27th July was that, excluding duplicates, 473,000 had signed up. This is clearly a sign of how desperately people have been waiting and wanting to be part of positive change and a sound basis from which to build a Party
I signed to the new party after reading about it. However, I deeply hope that Corbyn and Sultana have learnt from the past and to be cautious around the Guardian.
I have just seen that OJ has joined.
This causes me concern given their nature. OJ infamously jumped on the bandwagon and then participated in the witchhunt.
Since Autumn 2023, he has suddenly changed his position on Israel, and whilst many people are quoting him, seeing OJ some sort of progressive and he has become popular in America in recent months; other people across the world are rightfully skeptical .
Allow OJ into the party, but we on the left, must be careful of him and the journalists and media personalities who keenly emphasis they are one of us.
If I was one of the many former labour members who OJ slandered and accused of AS I would be angered, if he were to be treated like royalty at any initial Your Party conference.
Has Jones and his colleagues ever reflected upon their actions ? Have they ever contemplated that they might have aided Israel and enhanced its grip over the Labour Party, British politics, and our society?
The Establishment’s actions against Kneecap, Bob Vylan and especially the activist network Palestine Action, is testament of where we are now because of those years.
Once bitten, twice shy. And if persons think that we must simply band together because of mutual disdain for Israel, then such naivety will ruin the new party and its opportunities.
Thank you for raising this; I personally feel that we have to welcome people. Without any question Owen Jones has provided exemplary coverage of what has been happening in Gaza even though it is certainly disappointing that he has failed to “join up the dots” between the weaponisation of antisemitism (which is happening across the world to defend Israel). We have to address our differences but not allow them to split us. There will also be many new people who were not involved in the Labour Party historically and for whom this will seem like ancient history. The key thing is to learn the lessons and certainly to be ready to counter the likely attacks of antisemitism – and whatever other nonsense the ruling class will throw at what they are already labelling “hard left”.
Hassan,
Yes, Utopian idealism and a quest for moral and ethical absolutes are fine principles, but I think you have to settle for a strong measure of relativism in the broadly liberal democratic model in which we operate. Yes, you can argue that Corbyn and kindred spirits haven’t had much success during that 58 years, which isn’t the same as ‘working FOR the establishment’. Aneurin Bevin always argued against leaving the Labour Party; – a very different historical context of course, but the principle of needing a mass political party remains a strong one.
It isn’t possible to escape the fact that it was democratic electorates (under whatever influences) that enabled Johnson, Starmer, Biden, Trump etc.
“In less than twenty-four hours, 140,000+ people have signed up for this ‘Left’ initiative. Something else, more worth focusing on, than the name”
Ok George, let’s focus on the numbers. The labour party under Corbyn was (allegedly) a mass membership organisation. In effect though the great majority of these members were there on paper only. They paid a few pounds a month and that was about it, they never went to any meetings and never engaged in any kind of political training. They were a name and a membership number, nothing more. Of those who were active the truth is that they weren’t all that much better. The political level of most of them was very low and all kinds of ideological confusion reigned amongst them.
This is inevitable given that ‘Corbynism’ was an attempt to revive social democracy when it’s time had very much passed and that ‘Corbynism’ was a completely nebulous concept. Factor in as well that imperialist Britain is one of the most heavily propagandists countries on earth and you find that even the ‘extreme left’ of opinion is utterly divorced from reality. In meetings of the Momentum organisation you found pro-NATO, pro-EU and wildly anti Russian & Chinese sentiments openly expressed. This is inevitable given the stage we are at but the problem was that no one was seriously countering any of it, in fact most of the “marxists” now flocking towards Corbyns tattered banner agreed with such sentiments. The fact is that the left in Britain is as drenched in chauvinism and western supremacist thought as the right is, they just express it in different language.
But let’s see how his latest project goes.
I should of course have written Bevan above, not Bevin.
A stupid error!
Leah,
Thank you for responding to my comment; however, I do believe strongly that this new party has to be vigilant around persons like OJ and others.
They know how to read the weather, and to keep an audience, making certain they remain in the public eye. For them to simply jump from one point of view about Israel to another would be extraordinary.
However, given OJ’s track record it is highly suspicious.
My understanding of OJ, people like him and the issues they present is based upon various articles as written by the journalists Asa Winstanley, Jonathan Cook and Tony Greenstein and videos by the bloggers* Bad Empanada; and Crispin Flintoff and his guest.
Persons who have a deep knowledge of Judaism, Zionism, Israel and Palestine and had encounters with Jones.
Reflection is a key aspect of learning: accepting when we have got things wrong, made mistakes and in worst case scenarios, hurt other people. It is about understanding what we did well and what we can do better. An aid for taking responsibility for our actions to improve ourselves, and the world around us.
If OJ etc have never openly apologized for their behavior these last 10 years but expect us to forgive and forget, then that is a red flag as far as I am concerned – and it puts us and this new party at risk.
Maybe I am a bit cynical about OJ and the Guardian, given their record. I just don’t want this new party to become degraded by journalist celebrities,
who might turn on it should it go against their needs… Regardless of our different opinions about this issue, Leah, I wish you well. Please take care.
*It is interesting, I must note, in itself that OJ’s video patreon subscription levels have the titles of ‘grassroots’, ‘comrade’ and ‘Solidarity’.
I have agonised about writing this, but eventually decided – oh hell, why not? One of the problems I recall during the Corbyn era was that he surrounded himself with a bunch of unreconstructed Stalinists who formed an impermeable wall around him. I have a great deal of regard for Corbyn as a person, and as a socialist. However, I am dubious about his judgment when it comes to his office and his allies. If he does the same thing again in any new party, it will be disastrous. I was taken aback to see an article posted here penned by one of them.
At long last a new party is about to be formed. A name that identifies with the struggles of the working class would be suitable, because all those Labour values, traditions and principles are no longer held by the Labour party. I left the party before the general election because I could not stomach Starmer after seeing how he destroyed the Labour party from inside. I went to a talk by Dianne Abbot about two months ago and she said she was convinced that the Labour party would be back to what it was as politics moves in circles. I wonder whether she still thinks the same.