On the eve of the Your Party conference, councillor James Giles had been the chair for a powerful and energetic fringe rally. This event was organised by Zarah Sultana and fellow comrades from left-wing organisations and groups. They had all aligned in a common purpose. Their goal was to advocate for maximum member democracy. They aimed to unite us in the fight ahead against oppression, austerity, and division.
Yet on Saturday 29 November morning, Giles found out he was banned from entering the conference, despite still having full membership. He was still able to vote remotely online. What went on behind the scenes with this raises serious questions about the notion of democracy in Your Party. Additionally, it shows the lengths some may go to, to stay in control.
Expulsion on eve of the Your Party conference
The reason given for this ban, as told to James Giles, was that there is a ‘private matter relating to an ongoing investigation by the ICO’. However, specific details and any accusations remain elusive. Giles informs that he has not heard from the ICO regarding any investigation, either relating to Your Party or otherwise.
It is believed that the private matter refers to the knowledge that James Giles was responsible for sending the email out through Your Party communications. This was done to announce the launch of the membership portal at the request of those in Zarah Sultana’s group.
Nevertheless, whilst the central clique might not like that they did not have exclusive control of these communications, the strategic alliance that was constructed from the very outset means that both sides had access. Therefore, it becomes very murky when trying to attribute legal wrongdoing from using said communications system, as it was shared for the purposes of a united message. Moreover, given the systems, bank accounts, and methods used were pre-agreed from the outset, nothing was actually changed.
Setting the narrative
Despite seemingly having respectable intentions here, in practice, it became who held down the fort and set the narrative.
So the offence seems to be that the email launch of the membership portal was not at the behest of Karie Murphy. It was not that James Giles sent the email. Simply being offended by something does not constitute actual legal malpractice.
It’s important to note here that others have attempted to draw focus to a prior investigation alleged to be ongoing with the ICO pertaining to Giles. This was in 2023, insisting on full transparency to constituents as to where their local councillors stood in regards to the aggressive, illegal yet ongoing genocide in Palestine. Apart from complaints being made to the ICO, there is no substantial evidence to support the accusations. James Giles is not subject to an active and legitimate legal action for these incidents.
In response to the alleged investigation, James Giles told the Canary:
I don’t know myself quite exactly what it relates to, which makes it, in some ways, quite difficult to respond. And I say that of course, because the ICO has never been in touch with me, about any matter, ever.
Whether related to YP or otherwise, I’m not one of these data crooks that, once or so often, comes up in the media. So i can only really put it down to factionalism, I can only really put it down to the fact that those that were in charge of the conference, those organising, didn’t want certain individuals in the room, who were supportive of Zarah’s position, which is that we need maximum member democracy.
It wasn’t just me, Michael Lavalette was excluded the morning of the conference, and he of course has been supportive also of Zarah’s position.
Michael on the second day did end up being let back into conference, that was only because John Rees personally wrote to Jeremy, in slightly more diplomatic terms, in effect just said ‘what the fuck’, and Jeremy I understand, personally oversaw Michael Lavalette getting his pass reinstated.
In my case, it wasn’t reinstated, but I was able to vote throughout the conference. But obviously as you will have seen on the Sunday, I went in anyway.
Michael Lavalette provided more context, informing that he was not expelled from the party, but he and John Rees of Counterfire were banned from attending the conference.
Meanwhile…
When Michael addressed this on the Saturday, he was told it was due to the amendment put forward by Counterfire, with support from SWP in a great show of unity, and the suggestion by others that if the amendment was blocked from being heard, they should storm the stage.
This was unknown to Lavalette and Rees, so with the assurance that they would not storm the stage Michael was in by Saturday afternoon, and as previously planned due to commitment to the Palestine marches in London, Rees attended on the Sunday.
Even so, Michael does believe that the ban of SWP and subsequent exclusions were due to the amendment pushing for a unity steering committee. This included Zarah and Jeremy, accompanied by others within the left. Their goal was to push forward together and end the incessant fighting.
This again suggests the threat is unity being shown and practiced by multiple factions of the left. They refused to let the differences between us stop us from working together. Instead, they engaged in debate and discussion to fight for the fairer society that we all need, want and deserve.
Perceived injustice is not the same as actual injustice.
When we consider how the Justice system is being used against ordinary people now for political agendas, with juries being taken away and access to justice being harder than ever, it is disgusting. It is used as a tool of oppression to quash ideologies or perspectives that don’t align with one clique in Your Party.
Indications suggest that justice isn’t at the heart of the private legal actions being dished out by Karie Murphy. This actively goes against the anti-oppression movement. The majority, if not all, members have signed up for this movement.
Censorship on the BBC at the behest of a clique in Your Party?
For instance, when James Giles was due to be on the Today programme on Radio 4 on Monday morning at 6:50 am, at 6:30 am he received a call and WhatsApps. These relayed requests from BBC editors explicitly asking that Karie Murphy’s name not be mentioned when discussing reasons for his exclusion from the event.
As Giles told the Canary, Karie Murphy is integral and central to these issues we keep seeing time and time again, and was responsible for the exclusion. Yet he was unfairly prevented from even being able to speak to it transparently, as should be his right.
Finally, with a message to those organising ahead of the local elections in 2026, Giles recommended that groups act now.
Go independent and start doing the work on the ground. Bring members in and build local power. If elected, the step can be taken to defect to Your Party when sitting on the council. Waiting until March will starve the movement of time, resources, and the grassroots work required. This is crucial to becoming the ultimate threat to the rise of fascism and division in our society.
The people have power now, making the establishment shake at the knees finally. So it’s crucial to make sure it is harnessed for the benefit of all of us, not just a small few.
We must do better
On the surface of everything surrounding Your Party, it would seem that there are disruptors aplenty and no one prepared to work together.
But is that really the situation?
We saw in 2019 how witch-hunts can be used by established structures of power and influence. They deride socialist ambition and its goals. This challenges and confronts injustice on all fronts to actually end exploitation in our society.
We have seen socialism become a dirty word that no one wanted to touch. Attempts at ‘reasonable doubt’ were deliberately pushed to divide and conquer the left through baseless witch hunts.
This is why we must look deeper into the witch hunts being fed to us now. We must ensure that those we are going to bat for are good faith actors. They must truly have our best interests at heart, rather than just self-interest and narrative control.
Featured image via the Canary
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