We Asked This MP If He Really Wanted to Be in Your Party. Then He Quit

An independent alliance MP involved in the steering of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party has announced he is leaving the project. Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain’s resignation comes after Novara Media asked him to comment on allegations that he had been saying behind closed doors that he doesn’t want to become a Your Party member.

In his resignation letter on 14 November, Hussain said he would be “stepping away from the steering group of Your Party”, citing a “toxic, exclusionary and deeply disheartening” environment and calling out how “particularly Muslim men” within the steering process have been treated with “dismissive attitudes” and “veiled prejudice”.

His letter also describes a “broader pattern of clique-like behavior and gatekeeping across sections of the movement” and a “culture surrounding the party… dominated by persistent infighting, factional competition and a struggle for power, position and influence rather than a shared commitment to the common good”. 

After much thought, I have made the difficult decision to step out of the steering process for Your Party.

I wish those who continue to work on this endeavour the very best of luck and hope their hard work achieves the results they desire. pic.twitter.com/zz4EevEIzu

— Adnan Hussain MP (@AdnanHussainMP) November 14, 2025

A source close to the matter told Novara Media earlier today that Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed, MP for Dewsbury and Batley, were saying behind closed doors that they didn’t even want to join the nascent party because some of their base doesn’t want to be associated with the left.

Less than three hours after Novara Media reached out to Hussain to get his side of the story, the Blackburn MP announced he was quitting Your Party. 

Hussain’s resignation comes after the party released a statement on Thursday night complaining that “Your Party’s capacity has been severely restricted” because of a lack of funds. 

The statement is signed by independent alliance MPs Corbyn, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan, Mohamed and Hussain, with Sultana’s name conspicuously absent. 

In response, a source close to Sultana said “she wasn’t informed she was being kicked out” of the independent alliance and “thought she was a member” until she saw the statement on X, according to The House magazine’s Sienna Rodgers. Rodgers added that a Your Party source claims Sultana quit in September.

The nascent political party has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from grassroots supporters, but has been dogged by infighting, threats of legal action and fudged power-sharing arrangements from the off. 

There have long been questions over whether Corbyn, Sultana, the independent MPs and the party’s leftwing base share a coherent political vision that could form the basis of a party.

Corbyn aligned with the independent group over shared concerns about Gaza, while Sultana has tried to argue for a party that is “explicitly socialist, radically democratic, rooted in mass movement and led by our members, not MPs”. 

Novara Media previously reported how in June, independent group MPs became alarmed at a proposal for the basis of the new party from Corbyn’s faction which defined it as a “class based party” aiming to build “socialism from below”, believing it was a departure from the “broad church” they thought they were joining.

Hussain has already drawn criticism for views and practices at odds with a new socialist party, including involvement in four rental and real estate companies, and statements considered anti-trans such as that “women’s rights and safe spaces should not be encroached upon”.

Sultana currently has custody of the money and supporters’ data, after launching the party’s membership portal in a unilateral action back in September, and has promised to transfer it after settling “costs, expenses and liabilities”. 

The 13 November statement from Corbyn and four other MPs was released ahead of Sultana’s appearance on BBC Question Time, where she was asked about “issues with hundreds of thousands of pounds” with the nascent party’s setup, replying that “it’s fair to say there have been teething issues”. 

The statement said only “a small portion” of the total donations had been transferred. “This is insufficient,” it continued. “We will continue to pursue the immediate transfer of all the money that was donated by supporters to get a new party off the ground.

“Hundreds of thousands of pounds were donated to the party by supporters in good faith, but have since remained beyond its reach. This has been extremely frustrating and disheartening.”

Would-be Your Party supporters were less than impressed, with author and former diplomat Craig Murray responding on X by calling the statement “traitorous, cowardly and deliberately timed to undermine Sultana’s appearance on Question Time”. Murray added: “You were offered all the money and the company that holds it. You refused because you just wanted the cash without the liabilities.”

Others repeated pleas for the co-founders to settle their differences discreetly. “Do this in private ffs,” one social media user said.

A spokesperson for Sultana said: “Zarah recently took over as sole director of MOU Operations Ltd, and is working to transfer all funds and data to Your Party. All remaining funds will be transferred to Your Party once the company’s costs and liabilities are settled in full.

“Zarah did not seek to become sole director of MOU Operations Ltd, but was prepared to take on this responsibility after the other five independent alliance MPs declined to join her as co-directors. Her goal is to resolve this as rapidly as possible, and to focus – as she did on BBC Question Time yesterday evening – on building a member-led, socialist party that offers a real alternative to our failed economic status quo.

“To ensure funds are available for the upcoming founding conference, she transferred an initial £200k this week, once Your Party’s bank details had been confirmed. Further instalments will be paid as soon as possible, as the legal details are ironed out.”

Novara Media has contacted Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed for comment.