‘F**okay Jeremy Corbyn’: Disdain of Zarah Sultana’s allies for ‘helpful idiot’ former Labour chief revealed as they vie to maintain him from operating hard-Left Your Party in new factional break up

Days ago former Labour MP Zarah Sultana pledged she would ‘continue working closely with Jeremy (Corbyn) and comrades across the movement’ as she publicly tried to draw a line under months of infighting inside Your Party.

The new hard-Left outfit, which has Mr Corbyn as its interim leader, has been dogged by factional rows since its launch last summer.

It is trying to put all that behind it as it holds elections for its new controlling leadership council, with those standing told to refrain from ‘personal attacks’ on rivals.

But question may be asked about Ms Sultana’s commitment to unity after she endorsed a slate whose candidates and behind-the-scenes fixers have made little secret of their disdain for Mr Corbyn, now 76.

An investigation by the Mail shows they supported those who branded him ‘either a useful fool or a malicious hypocrite’ who wants to run the party alone with a cabal of close advisers.

Amid the fight for control of the socialist party last year they accused him of wanting to be a ‘party king’ with a ‘divine right to wear the crown’ because of his popularity and decades in the far left movement.

Many of them are members of the Democratic Socialists, a hardline group within the party dedicated to ‘the defeat of capitalism’. 

One of the main organisers of Ms Sultana’s Grassroots Left slate liked a pithy message on X which simply said: ‘F**k Jeremy Corbyn’, and one of the candidates accused him and his allies of being the leaders of an attempted  ‘coup’ by a group including ‘bullies, landlords (and) transphobes’.

This appears to be a reference to independent MPs aligned with Mr Corbyn, one of whom has previously spoken out in support of JK Rowling in her battle for women’s gender rights, and another who owns several rental properties.

The new hard Left outfit, which has Mr Corbyn as its interim leader, has been dogged by factional rows since its launch last summer.

Days ago former Labour MP Zarah Sultana pledged she would ‘ continue working closely with Jeremy (Corbyn) and comrades across the movement’ as she publicly tried to draw a line under months of infighting inside Your Party.

But question may be asked about Ms Sultana’s commitment to unity after she endorsed a slate whose candidates and behind-the-scenes fixers have made little secret of their distain for Mr Corbyn.

One of the main organisers of Ms Sultana’s Grassroots Left slate liked a pithy message on X which simply said: ‘F**k Jeremy Corbyn’, and one of the candidates accused him and his allies of being the leaders of an attempted ‘coup’ by a group including ‘bullies, landlords (and) transphobes’.

Neither Grassroots Left nor Zarah Sultana responded to requests to comment from the Mail. 

According to official records, the Grassroots Left campaign is run by a company called Saint-Simon & Co. Its directors were Luke Fox and Charlie Porter until Mr Porter resigned last week.

At the height of the infighting last year Mr Fox retweeted a message disparaging Mr Corbyn as well as his allies, former Labour chief of staff Karie Murphy and independent MP Adnan Hussein.

Mr Porter meanwhile, repeated a message which attacked Mr Corbyn over Your Party ‘purging’ members who were also in the Socialist Workers’ Party, likening it to the way Corbynistas were kicked out of Labour after he left.

‘Jeremy Corbyn is either: a useful fool or a malicious hypocrite,’ they wrote.

Max Shanly, who is standing as a Grassroots Left candidate for the South East, accused Corbyn’s supporters of believing he had ‘a divine right to wear the crown’ of party leader and then throwing a tantrum when their plan was blocked by the membership vote.

Claiming they wanted to install him as a ‘Party King’ at the head of a ‘dictatorship of the mediocre’, he added: ‘For all their attacks on Zarah wanting to be Queen of the Party, despite her numerous statements in favour of the party being member-led, it shows that they were just projecting onto her all their own desires.’

Graham Jones, a candidate in the West Midlands, defended Ms Sultana last September after she branded Corbyn and co a ‘sexist boys club’, saying she was acting to prevent a ‘coup’ by a group including ‘bullies, landlords, transphobes, and seemingly no one from social movements outside of bureaucratic trade unions’.

This week two Grassroots Left candidates endorsed both Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana for seats on the CEC.

Writing in the leftwing Tribune magazine, Chloe Braddock and Ewan Tilley argued ‘both have a role to play as the figureheads of our movement, just as all socialists should find a political home in this party’.

But last year as factional fighting reigned, Ms Braddock mounted an attack on the party’s ‘incompetent, socially conservative, backstabbing MPs and their self-serving staff.

And in November, after members of the SWP were expelled she said it was ‘the undemocratic manoeuvre of an insecure leadership’ under Corbyn.   

The rival camps have been at loggerheads ever since Ms Sultana walked out on Labour and declared she would co-lead the new party, which came as a surprise to Mr Corbyn and his allies. 

 Nominations opened earlier this month for places on the committee that will have responsibility for running the party after members voted to block its MPs from serving as leader.

The move in December came after interim leader Mr Corbyn and his allies clashed with his fellow former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, who at one point accused them of running a ‘sexist boys club’.

The election results will be announced at the end of February after a contest taking the best part of two months.

The rules posted online state: ‘In line with the Your Party membership rules, candidates, like all members, must act in a respectful, comradely, and non-abusive manner in all contexts, including Party meetings and on social media.

‘Candidates shall refrain from personal attacks during the election.’