Senior Your Party figures say that MOU Operations was used to hold membership data and donations without their agreement
In another chaotic turn for Your Party, senior Your Party figures have resigned as directors of a company linked to the party.
Former Labour MP Beth Winter, former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll and anti-apartheid activist Andrew Feinstein have resigned from MOU Operations, stating that the company was used to hold member donations without their agreement.
Zarah Sultana MP will now take over as the sole director of MOU Operations, which currently holds Your Party’s membership data and donations.
In a statement issued last night, Winter, Driscoll and Feinstein said that MOU Operations “has repeatedly been used without our agreement” and that “the role of holding donations was thrust upon us”.
They said they had tried from the start to hand over membership data and the funds to Your Party Ltd, but only one of its directors agreed.
On 29 September, they formally asked Your Party’s leadership to take control of MOU Operations.
The statement said: “This would have handed over all data, money and everything else to Your Party. Five of the six MPs declined.”
It appears Sultana was the only MP who agreed.
The other leaders of Your Party, including Jeremy Corbyn and Independent Alliance MPs Iqbal Mohamed, Adnan Hussain, Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan, reportedly demanded control of MOU’s assets but refused to take over the company itself.
The trio said this would have left them legally responsible for any problems like “costs from the confused membership launches”.
They added that they could not hand over membership data without following GDPR regulations, but that “Not everyone understands company law or GDPR”.
Their statement comes after a Guardian article indicated that Your Party leaders would be taking legal action against Winter, Driscoll and Feinstein.
Responding to the dispute, they said: “We have been extraordinarily patient, and tried to resolve this quietly behind the scenes. Your Party has claimed in emails and social media statements that we delayed the data transfer.
“We repeatedly asked them to stop making factually incorrect claims of this nature. They gave hostile briefings to journalists. We behaved with integrity.”
The statement ends by saying: “Zarah Sultana has agreed to become the sole member and director of MOU, with a commitment to use the resources for Your Party, as was always intended.”
Their resignations will take effect once the company has been transferred to Sultana.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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