Corbyn set to launch a new political organisation of the left in July 2025

Being organised behind closed doors by a small group of his political allies, the form and purpose of this organisation remain uncertain.

By Alan Story

After months of prevarication and zigzagging, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is now on the cusp of establishing a new political organisation, THE LEFT LANE can confirm. The tentative announcement date is Tuesday 22 July, according to the minutes of a recent meeting we have seen; see below.

Yet, shrouded in secrecy, the exact form and purpose of his new organisation remain uncertain. In recent weeks, Corbyn has declined to call it “a party”, “a left party”, or a “mass socialist party.” Instead, the new grouping will initially be focused mostly on electoral work in a loose coalition and will be centred in England. Its priority will be trying to elect more left-wing councillors in the May 2026 local elections and then MPs in the general election.

The final version of an appeal to activists to join is being drafted, we have read in documents. The ideology of this new formation will be centrist social democratic / soft left.

Many questions remain how it will operate, as we explore below. But based on how it is being set up over many months, some activists fear it may become a top-down, non-transparent and tightly controlled bureaucratic stitch-up. In short, not an organisation run by its members nor one that we “own.” And in an era when so many people are turned off by politics and politicians, that would be worse than tragic. Being squeakier than “squeaky clean” must be a critical byword for socialists today.

Excerpt from the 11 June 2025 minutes of a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition ( TUSC)

“I am determined there will be, in short time, a strong democratic socialist left-wing voice that brings people together,” the Islington North independent MP told a large crowd at an enthusiastic rally in Liverpool on 14 June. A week earlier, he labelled this “voice” as “something.”

While Corbyn declines to label the new organisation a “party”, one political insider who knows him well suggests “he’s gesturing without being explicit.” Perhaps he is correct.

The new organisation, first discussed way back in September 2024, is being assembled in closed sessions by a small group of his political allies stretching back to beyond the years 2015 to 2020 when he was Labour leader.

“CORBYN FOR LEADER”: McCLUSKEY

These associates have already designated Corbyn to be its leader. “We know who should lead it and “- pointing to Corybn – “he’s here,” said Len McCluskey, former Unite union general secretary and a long-time political mate, at the same Liverpool event.

“Jeremy Corbyn is the only person who can unite the left,” added Pamela Fitzpatrick, who heads up Corbyn’s Peace & Justice project, during a Zoom webinar last week. Fitzpatrick coordinates the group Collective along with Karie Murphy, the romantic partner of McCluskey and the combative political insider who managed Corbyn’s office while he was Leader of the Opposition.

One suggestion: why not, for a period of time, elect a small leadership team as it might work far better, especially given the problems arising from past single “left” leaders, such as Arthur Scargill, Tommy Sheridan, and George Gallaway?

If a deputy leader is chosen, it will likely be Andrew Feinstein, also from the London area. Feinstein, a former South African legislator, ran against Keir Starmer in the July 2024 general election in the constituency of Holborn and St. Pancras, near to Corbyn’s seat of more than 40 years in North London.

+++++++

IF YOU LIKE IT, PLEASE SHARE IT

We have recently been having some serious problems distributing THE LEFT LANE in Facebook groups. We are in the process investigating why this has occurred.

The easiest way to distribute this substack is to pass it on directly to our subscribers. With one click, hundreds of people get each and every article straight into their email inbox. If you are not a subscriber please consider becoming one.

But we also like to introduce THE LEFT LANE each week to new readers. So if you enjoyed this article, please share it on any platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter/ X , etc.) to which you have access.

++++++++

So this is very much of a London-based “you’re-in-if-you-know-the-right- people … and know-Corbyn” type of core grouping. Alan Gibbons, a Labour Party member while Corbyn was leader and now leader of the Liverpool Independents Party, is a geographic exception in the inner group. (Gibbons is also the principal speaker for the TRANSFORM party.)

The narrowness of the political spectrum from which its core contributors are being drawn is one of many concerns that will persist with this new formation. It is almost exclusively ex-Labour from the Corbyn era. It reeks of old-style clique politics.

Moreover, has it learned from the serious mistakes made by past left-of-Labour parties such as the Socialist Labour Party (headed by Scargill), the Scottish Socialist Party (Sheridan) and Respect (Gallaway)?

When Fitzpatrick was asked about this issue last week at a Zoom webinar, she ducked the question and said “the time is very different” today. Next question.

The issue that critics will, however, need to face is this: have you been able to provide any alternatives? Other than the sects and the tiny “we –meet-in-a-closet” groupuscules, Corbyn’s show is just about the only left show with profile and national pulling power in town. Sadly, there is a gaping political and organisational hole on the UK left.

Farage and Reform top Labour and Starmer in the polls.

THREE THINGS ARE CERTAIN ABOUT A NEW PARTY

Three things seem beyond debate:

1) The first is that such a party is desperately needed. On the questions of Palestine, Israel and Iran, Starmer mimics Trump’s line and follows in his footsteps. Trump demands NATO countries spend 5% of their gross domestic product on military expenditures. “Yes sir,” replies Starmer. As another NATO summit begins today, Progressive International sums up the situation we face: “They bay for war. We plan for peace.”

Meanwhile in the UK, Austerity 2.0 looms, especially for people with disabilities, under a Labour government elected with only 34% of the overall vote.

Literally millions on the left and progressives generally say Starmer is a liar, a weakling, and does not speak for them. For example, Starmer’s claim to the BBC 10 days before the last election that he was “a socialist” is a cruel hoax. At the time, political sociology professor Luke Martell explained that Starmer’s purported version of socialism “was dropping what makes socialism distinctive” ;it goes far beyond the idea of mere “equality.”

Once in office, Starmer has become a right-wing social democrat … and that’s on a good day. Domestically, he mimics Farage on the question of immigration...and this was even before his notorious “island of strangers speech” last month.

+++++

2) The idea of creating a new party is an extremely popular one. Over 2000 people attended a rally in late March 2024 in London on that theme (and others), more than 500 activists attended the recent rally on Merseyside on the need for a new party, and an estimated 300 people went to a recent rally in Huddersfield on this same theme.

More than 300 activists also registered for a Zoom session held on 3 June by the Campaign for a Mass Workers’ Party (CMWP) under the title: “A NEW PARTY OF THE LEFT; THE TIME IS NOW.” (See the poster HERE), About 180 people joined the lengthy recorded session. (You can watch the videos HERE.)

Local groups, such as one in Hastings, are doing exciting bottom-up organising about how to get organised and contribute to building a new party. ( See the poster for its 17 May event in the 22 May issue of THE LEFT LANE.) “Learn from Hastings”, says a political mate of mine.

Those with knowledge of left-wing politics in other countries wonder why the UK can’t have a party like the Workers Party of Belgium (WPB). In a country one-sixth the size of the UK, the ever-growing WPB has over 26,000 members, has elected more than 50 legislators, and has a real presence in many communities in both the French and Walloon areas. It is proudly socialist … with bells on!

Saturday’s huge march in London against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the war on Iran.

Back to the UK. No one took a poll of the 300,000 people who marched in London on Saturday (21June) against the Israeli genocide in Palestine and against war on Iran and asked them what they thought of Starmer’s Labour government.

I will bet my state pension for next week that a majority are not impressed by Labour’s record and would at least consider voting for and/ or becoming involved with a serious left-of-Labour alternative party.

+++++

3) Few deny that Corbyn, who spoke at that Saturday rally, still has widespread political support on the left. It is commonplace to see on social media messages, as I did last week: “all I want is a party led by JC xx.” Another message said, “I just want a left party to vote for and Corbyn is the only one to lead it.”

But is pre-selecting or electing Corbyn, aged 76 and an MP since 1984, as the leader of a new organisation the real solution to the left’s “party problem”?

While Corbyn would be welcomed by many activists as an elder or a sort of “eminence grise” in a new party, more and more socialists are questioning whether he should lead it. And they are also asking whether he and his political allies, all former Labour Party members, candidates or officials, will be unveiling a party (or organisation) next month that is, bluntly, “fit for purpose.” And will it have the capacity to act as a long-term force to oppose capitalism and lead a socialist transformation? THE LEFT LANE asks the same questions.

“WAITING FOR JEREMY” IS WEARING THIN

Take the views of Jacqueline Walker, a long time Labour Party member and a strong supporter of Corbyn for years. She was expelled several years ago from Labour on a bogus charge of antisemitism.

Now a regular commentator on “The Crispin Flintoff Show”, Walker posted a message on social media over the past weekend saying that Corbyn was now “too old” to lead a new party, adding that he had made a number of “mistakes” while Labour Party leader.

Others no doubt hold similar views. At a Zoom session I attended Monday evening (23 June), one activist said this current party project is being geared “far too much” towards what suits Corbyn’s personal agenda. We need to “take ownership” of this new organisation, he said.

A lot of evidence reveals that the process to create Corbyn’s new organisation has been overly secretive and downright ramshackle at times.

Some of the activists involved are quite displeased and confused. Asked ten days ago if Corbyn was going to be forming a party soon, an activist on the executive committee of a left party told THE LEFT LANE: “The story changes 2 or 3 times a week depending on who you hear from.”

Some groups, such as the Network of Independent Socialists (NOIS), who want to work with others to help build a new socialist party, were not allowed to join Corbyn’s wider party building group in January 2025. No reason was given and the decision was taken by single individual. Other groups, such as CMWP, which has the same objectives as NOIS, were however allowed to join Collective. The reason? In part, because they knew the “right people.”

Other organisations, such as the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), have been forced to radically change their normal procedures to become part of the party building grouping, mind you in a minor capacity. Karie Murphy of Collective required TUSC’s two main officers to sign a sign a statement “not made available in writing for consultation with its steering group” that was making “Jeremy Corbyn as the founding interim leader” of this new organisation. In an understatement, the minutes noted: “a general consensus was expressed that this process towards a new working-class party was not the most conducive to its successful establishment.” Quite.

CORBYN HAS REPEATEDLY CHANGED HIS VIEWS

Corbyn's own position on creating a new party has changed several times. Since he was suspended from Labour in 2021, many activists have called on him to form a new party. He consistently refused. (In a brutal and unjust decision, the current Labour leader suspended his predecessor from the party in October 2021; Corbyn has sat as an independent MP since.)

Party building returned to Corbyn’s personal agenda personal agenda in mid-September 2024 at a closed meeting that was leaked to THE GUARDIAN. But then in November 2024 at an online meeting of Collective, both Fitzpatrick and Murphy were frustrated and despairing when they announced that Corbyn had cooled on the idea of building a new party and instead wanted to focus local community organising.

Corbyn has more recently favoured building a national political organisation, as the quotes near the start of this article attest.

Feinstein has also favoured local community organising, witness the speech he gave in late April. Press reports made no mention of Feinstein anytime suggesting we also need to build the party. But he evidently now has followed Corbyn’s lead and is emphasising national organisation building. If a deputy is selected, Feinstein will likely hold that post. (This is not a recommendation, only our reading of the core group’s “tea leaves.”)

A resident and organiser in the London borough of Camden, Feinstein has recently spent time trying to justify the time it is taking to launch this new organisation and why talks are being behind closed doors.

Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana is NOT expected to join Corbyn’s new organisation.

PROTECT THOSE IN “SENSITIVE POSITIONS”

In another recent speech, Feinstein said he wished these talks were “open and transparent conversations.” However, he continued, “there are people who are in very sensitive positions that make it very difficult to make public some of the conversations that are taking place.”

I've been a political journalist (and a socialist) since the 1960s in three countries and I've heard this same rationale for secrecy more times than I wish to remember. Such statements are simply condescending nonsense and have no place in the process a building a mass socialist party.

Who are these people in “sensitive positions” that Feinstein and Corbyn are hoping to recruit? Is one of them Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana? Or perhaps veteran Labour MP John McDonnell? Or are they the four pro-Gaza independent MPs?

Yes, Sultana at least could be an asset for a new socialist party. But few of us expect she will be on the stage on 22 July when the new organisation is announced. But even if she was, this does not justify the serious lack of transparency that has plagued this project from the start; dues-paying members of Collective could not even attend that group’s meetings as observers. This attitude has resulted in hundreds of people who might want to join seriously questioning the whole idea of building a new socialist party. Yes, repression is growing, but we do not live in tsarist Russia. We need OPEN DEBATE, NOT CLOSED DOORS.

MANY QUESTIONS PERSIST ABOUT THIS PROJECT.

For now, we will only list nine questions that we continue to have about this new project. You likely have some of your own; feel free to add them in the comments section below.

And just to add; solely for space reasons, we have neglected to examine any of the policies that might form the basis for this new organisation. For example, does centrist social democracy hold the key to building socialism?

1) How, specifically, is democracy and transparency going to operate in this new organisation?

2) Will it be able to survive for even a year unless a vibrant internal political culture is created?

3) If winning votes becomes the main aim of this new organisation, will it ditch a socialist programme to achieve this goal? (It must not).

4) How will this new organisation ensure that entryist groups such as the Socialist Workers Party and Counterfire are prevented from exercising “undue influence” (to be charitable with the wording)?

5) How will this new organisation be funded?

6) Sectarianism is a huge problem on the British left. How will this new organisation try to combat this?

7) How will it prevent any local councillors or MPs from essentially becoming free agents?

8) A new organisation requires activists, not a bigger and essentially passive audience. How will this be accomplished?

9) How will we ensure that this is a friendly and outward-facing political organisation?

+++++

Edited by Alan Story, THE LEFT LANE is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber: http://theleftlane2024.substack.com/subscribe

You can reach us at: theleftlanepolitics@gmail.com

Read all previous columns of THE LEFT LANE ( 80 in total) here

Follow us on THE LEFT LANE Instagram and on THE LEFT LANE Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/leftlanepolitics.bsky.social