A second MP has quit Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s party to return to serving as an Independent MP, in yet another blow to the chaotic alliance.
Iqbal Mohamed’s departure comes just one week after Adnan Hussain said he was withdrawing from the “steering process” for the new Jeremy Corbyn-backed party, citing concerns about factionalism and “veiled prejudice” against Muslims.
Your Party, which has yet to even adopt a formal name, has been riven by infighting and rifts almost since it was announced earlier this year.
But the loss of another MP also comes at a difficult time, just a week before the party’s first annual conference is due to get underway.
At the event, in Liverpool, members are expected to decide whether to adopt co-leaders, as backed by Ms Sultana, whose relationship with other parts of the party has been fraught for months.
In September insiders have told The Independent that “diplomatic efforts” were underway within the new left-wing group to try to heal divisions between Corbyn and Sultana.
It came after she complained she had been subjected to a “sexist boys’ club” amid a dispute over a new membership system.
In a statement, Mr Mohamed said: “After careful consideration, I have decided to leave Your Party and continue serving as I was elected as an Independent Member of Parliament for Dewsbury & Batley.
“The many false allegations and smears made against me and others, and reported as fact without evidence, have been surprising and disappointing. However, I am confident that my colleagues and I have acted professionally, patiently, and in good faith throughout.”
Blackburn MP Mr Hussain said he had initially agreed to support the foundation of Your Party because he believed in “building a political home with mass appeal” and “a force capable of challenging the rise of far-right rhetoric”.
But in a statement published on X, he said he had been disillusioned by “persistent infighting, factional competition, and a struggle for power, position and influence rather than a shared commitment to the common good”.
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