by Joan Smith, UnHerd
Anti-establishment parties are famously prone to splits early on. But Jeremy Corbyn’s new germ of a party has surely set a record. Before it has even been formally constituted, supporters have turned on one of the MPs in the “independent alliance” that consists of Corbyn, former Labour MP Zarah Sultana and four “Gaza independents”.
In the old days, it would have been safe to assume that any new party of the Left supported single-sex spaces. But that was before women were relegated to second-class citizens. Hence the spectacle of a Corbyn ally and Muslim MP being attacked by supporters of “Your Party”, the current placeholder name of the Corbyn-Sultana project, for supporting women’s rights.
Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, was received rapturously when he appeared with Corbyn at a Your Party rally this weekend. But his post on X arguing that “women’s rights and safe spaces should not be encroached upon” has exposed a chasm in the new party. Some of the replies are too abusive to repeat, but it’s clear that Hussain has made the fatal mistake of offending trans activists. “Didn’t waste much time on regurgitating the transphobic talking points, did you?” asked one. Another addressed Sultana, pleading with her to “do something about this phobic loose cannon”.