What’s in a name? Apparently not very much – the new political party helmed by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana has attracted 500,000 signups to date without having one.
The big numbers suggest that the new political project has shrugged off a bumpy start. When it was first announced by Sultana, Corbyn’s team told journalists that nothing had actually been agreed yet. The second launch, this time by Corbyn while Sultana was out of town, sent users to yourparty.uk, with a “this is your party” welcome message – but Sultana had to clarify “it’s not called Your Party!” Nevertheless, the name has gone down so well with prospective members that it is likely to be the one chosen when the Party With No Name decides how to pick one.
But teething problems could yet turn into a full-blown identity crisis for the new political project. At present, signups on “Your Party” are being managed by Corbyn’s “Peace and Justice Project”, whose leadership team includes former Unite boss Len McCluskey, now at the centre of allegations that he accepted private jet flights and football tickets arranged by a company building a multi-million pound hotel for the union that soon spiralled in cost.
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But Corbyn also serves as the de facto leader of an independent grouping of MPs, the other four of whom were elected based on a direct appeal to Muslim voters. It’s not clear whether this independent group of MPs will campaign under the banner of Corbyn and Sultana’s new party.
There have been at least two previous attempts to start a left wing UK party with a particular appeal to Muslim voters, both led by Corbyn’s old ally George Galloway. These were the Respect Party and now the Workers Party of Britain, which Galloway has said won’t be merging with Corbyn’s new vehicle.
Elsewhere, the We Deserve Better campaign group – which journalist Owen Jones helped establish when he quit Labour in 2024 – is calling for a coalition between the No Names and the Greens, with both sides circling warily until they know more about what platform either might be running on.
The new party is clearly bad news for Labour and to a lesser extent, the Lib Dems and Greens. But insiders at each are shrugging off the fact that 500,000 signups is much larger even than Reform’s new membership. Reform’s members have all paid to join, they note, like other party members. For now, Corbyn’s 500,000 haven’t offered up anything more than an email address.
