Another blow for Corbyn and Sultana as second MP quits crisis-stricken Your Party
A second MP, Iqbal Mohamed, has quit Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s party to return to serving as an independent MP
A second MP has quit Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s party to return to serving as an independent MP.
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Iqbal Mohamed, MP for Dewsbury and Batley, said he was resigning from Your Party because of “false allegations and smears against me”.
He had recently clashed with Ms Sultana over his gender-critical beliefs.
His departure comes just a week after Adnan Hussain said he was withdrawing from the new party over concerns about factionalism and “veiled prejudice” against Muslims.
In a statement, Mohamed said: "The many false allegations and smears made against me and others, and reported as fact without evidence, have been surprising and disappointing.
"However, I am confident that my colleagues and I have acted professionally, patiently, and in good faith throughout."
He thanked those who had supported Your Party and wished them "success in their future endeavours" and he would continue working with colleagues in the Independent Alliance.
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Your Party has been riven by infighting and rifts almost from the outset, including a row over the handling of £800,000 of donations.
The loss of Mr Mohamed leaves just four Your Party MPs just a week before the party’s first annual conference is due to start in Liverpool.
The party conference is expected to decide whether to adopt co-leaders, a proposal backed by Ms Sultana, who has had a tense relationship with party representatives for months.
Sultana announced back in July that she was leaving Labour to set up a new party with Corbyn, saying it was time to challenge the "broken" Westminster system.
Earlier this week she rebuked Mr Mohamed over a series of gender-critical social media posts, saying: “White or brown men shouldn’t be telling or forcing biological women to give up their rights and private spaces to other biological men, black, white, brown or trans.
What about the biological women’s rights? They have rights which I will always fight to protect. I also believe in the human rights of all trans and LGBTQ+ people but not by taking away the hard-won rights of women.”
In response, a spokesman for Ms Sultana said she will "always stand with the trans community".
"She believes an ironclad commitment to trans rights is non-negotiable for a socialist party."