YOUR Party is riven by division following the launch of a new membership system by Zarah Sultana.

Jeremy Corbyn and the other members of the Independent Alliance immediately distanced themselves from the long-awaited move, issuing a statement saying it had not been agreed with them.

The issue brings to a head long-simmering divisions over the way forward for the new party, which has attracted huge support since its informal launch during the summer.

Mr Corbyn is known to feel aggrieved at the way Ms Sultana announced the initiative without his agreement, and Ms Sultana, in turn, believes she has been consistently disrespected and marginalised by the team around Mr Corbyn.

“I have been subjected to what can only be described as a sexist boys’ club,” she said today.  

“I have been treated appallingly and excluded completely.”

Ms Sultana claims that the other MPs — all men — have refused to create a gender-balanced committee to oversee preparations for the party’s founding conference, although she and Mr Corbyn agreed a statement committing to one.

Mr Corbyn’s team points to an agreement that the Independent Alliance MPs should provide provisional leadership for the party.

Ms Sultana’s action in launching a membership system was seen as a move in the continuing power struggle. 

The other MPs have issued several circulars in the name of Your Party without securing agreement from Ms Sultana.

Mr Corbyn and the other MPs urged party supporters to ignore the membership email and said “if any direct debits have been set up, they should be immediately cancelled.”

“This party is more important than any one person,” Ms Sultana said in her statement, “and we all owe it to the movement to deliver a truly democratic and socialist party.”