Is this an historic moment?
Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana recently confirmed their plans to establish a new political party on the left of British politics. In doing so, they launched a website – yourparty.uk – which gives an overview of what the party’s priorities will be and also allows people to sign up to a mailing list for more information and updates.
According to Sultana, 600,000 people signed up in five days, meaning that following its launch more than 100,000 people were signing up on average each day. How significant is this though?
The sheer number of people signing up is undoubtedly impressive, and indicative of an appetite in the country for the kind of politics this new party is indicating it will advocate.
However, there are a number of important caveats. While the scale no doubt shows the energy behind the project, it’s crucial to understand what these people are and what they are not.
Crucially, they are not members of the party, which is yet to be formally established. It is currently entirely unclear how many of them will end up joining it. But it is certainly not the case that all 600,000 will do.
Nevertheless, if even a quarter of them do join, this would make the party the third biggest in the country, with a larger membership than the Tories, Lib Dems and Greens. What that would bring would be a huge amount of cash from members’ dues, as well as a powerful army of volunteers to run ground campaigns for elections across the country. It’s not hard to see how this could be a major electoral force – especially when polls indicate that the party could be launched with a starting point of support from 15 per cent of the electorate.
At the moment, much of this is speculation. There’s no guarantee that the party will be able to translate these mailing list sign ups into anything like that level of membership.
Indeed, I’m reminded of a similar event three years ago. In 2022, a new campaign group fronted by charismatic and well known figures on the left was established. It was backed by left wing MPs including Sultana, as well as by RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, several major trade unions and the Green Party.
That group boasted more than 500,000 sign ups shortly after launching too. It was called Enough is Enough, and at the time it appeared to be the zeitgeist of organising on the left – taking the energy of the great strike wave of 2022 and pouring it into a new political project. Three years later, the vast majority of people have forgotten its name and its website has been taken down.
Will Corbyn and Sultana’s party suffer a similar fate? We obviously do not know. Many on the left will obviously be very much hoping not. The fact that it will be the entity that will house some of the most well known MPs who have indicated that they are seeking to make it a long term electoral project means that it starts on more stable foundations.
However, despite all the excitement, the fading memory of groups like Enough is Enough are a reminder that some stars can shine extremely bright before fading out in a fizzle.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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