It’s the gift that keeps on giving. If each day you rush to Twitter to see what the Your Party debacle has to offer, you’re in luck because *drum roll* Zarah Sultana may now be blocked from giving a speech at her own founding party conference.

Zarah Sultana: briefed against again

Anonymous sources have once again briefed against Zarah Sultana in the Murdoch-owned Times newspaper.

The paper said:

The firebrand Coventry South MP may be prevented from addressing delegates at the first gathering of Your Party, which takes place in Liverpool on November 29-30.

Apparently, a “senior Your Party source” said that Sultana “would need to be on speaking terms with those organising the conference to have any clarity about when, and whether, she would speak”

The source added:

The problem is she isn’t on anything approaching speaking terms.

And another insisted:

We don’t want this to become the Zarah show.

Which is an odd call because the only show this project looks like is one where varying sizes of clown get out of an improbably small car. Moreover, Your Party goons saw fit to use Gabriel Pogrund as the journalist to write the hit piece. Ironic – considering he was one the the Times hacks central to Morgan McSweeney and Labour Together’s plot to bring down Corbyn as Labour leader. If you lie down with dogs, and all that.

For her part Sultana, at least, seems to know what she’s doing. A spokesperson told the Canary:

As a co-founder of Your Party, Zarah will be addressing the founding conference as members expect. She’s fighting for maximum member democracy and is confident the movement will not accept any attempt to exclude or sabotage her, as happened before her appearance on Question Time last week.

Internecine fuckery

Despite enormous optimism early on, Your Party quickly descended into bizarre, internal power-wrangling. And all the while Reform UK have risen in the polls. Controversies have included a punch-up over whether transphobes and landlords should be in the party. Oh, and an argument over membership portals. Then, an ongoing row over the estimated £800,000 pound in donations. And don’t forget the allegations of misogyny being directed at Sultana by notionally left-wing colleagues.

If you want a good cry you can catch up here. Because if we linked every report of a puerile, self-defeating argument in Your Party this article would be the length of the entire Game of Thrones series. Albeit a lot better better written. Though roughly equally blood-spattered.

What we do know is that Zarah Sultana WILL be holding a rally the night before the conference:

I’m hosting the eve of conference Your Party rally in Liverpool next Friday.

Join me, grassroots organisers and labour movement leaders as we organise and build a socialist party rooted in maximum member democracy.

It’s Your Party — it must belong to you.

Get your ticket here:… pic.twitter.com/kKcBu24Fny

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) November 18, 2025

Meanwhile, sources close to her rejected the anonymous claims against her. They told the Canary:

Zarah and Jeremy have spoken in recent days, it’s factually incorrect to say they are not on speaking terms as alleged in the Times. ⁠Zarah has been excluded from the entire process leading up to conference, which includes drafting founding documents, organising regional assemblies and organising conference.

They added:

Co-leadership is still her preference, but it’s up to the members to decide if it’s sole, co-leadership or collective and they should be able to vote on that leadership structure. Zarah is a strong advocate of maximum member democracy.

Look in the mirror

We’re aware the Canary has been stoking some controversy in pro-Corbyn circles with our apparent siding with Zarah Sultana. However, the real picture here is that a) Sultana isn’t the one running to the Guardian and Murdoch rags with intentionally-destructive tittle-tattle (when these outlets would happily throw everyone involved under the bus), and b) she is a lone Brown woman in a movement dominated by men and white women at the top with multiple teams working for them.

The Canary’s only duty is always to punch up, not down. And if you think punching up on the side of Sultana is the problem, here – then maybe you’re reading the wrong article. And maybe – just maybe – you’re backing the wrong people, too.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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