Chaos at the conference

Dear readers — happy December! We hope you had a wonderful weekend and are gearing up for the Christmas festivities. 

Over the weekend, Abi published Part 6 of her investigation into Peter Mitchell and his disgraced charitable enterprise, Big Help. In that story, she revealed that Knowsley Foodbank — a charity linked to Big Help — transferred over £195,000 into organisations controlled by Mitchell and his associates.

Exclusive: How a food bank siphoned £195,000 into private hands

The Post can reveal that the Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Knowsley Foodbank

The PostAbi Whistance

The revelations in that piece have left many of you reeling. “This is absolutely jaw-dropping reporting,” one of you wrote on X. “This is what real journalism looks like,” wrote another.

We’ll be following up that story shortly — so stay tuned.

On with today’s edition — where we dig into the drama of the Your Party conference, which was held in Liverpool over the weekend. Also in today’s edition: as part of The Post’s Christmas offerings, we’ve commissioned a series of festive poems from Ryan Murphy. Perhaps you recognise the name; Murphy is one of the lucky few to have lived in Liverpool’s famed Garlic Mansion. If you missed our story all about the Garlic, catch up on that here.

The big story: Chaos at the conference

Top line: Over the weekend, Your Party held its first conference in Liverpool’s ACC. Instead of marking a fresh start for the political group — putting inter-party divisions to bed — boycotts, bans and a “toxic culture” stole the limelight.

Context: Your Party was launched in July this year by MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. The idea was simple: create a party “rooted in our communities, trade unions and social movements,” aiming to challenge inequality and austerity. 

The announcement was met with excitement. Within a week, over 50,000 people had signed up to become members. However, things quickly soured. News emerged that Sultana had launched the party without Corbyn’s consent, and tensions between the two founders continued to build.

A company that was originally set up to handle early donations — reported to be between £800,000 to £1.3 million — failed to transfer that money over to Your Party due to a financial dispute, and much of the data collected from members has been lost.

Despite these problems, supporters hoped the party’s first conference in November would bring a sense of unity. Conference organisers chose Liverpool as the setting, wanting to connect with the north of England and show the party’s decentralised approach from Westminster. 

The chaos begins: Despite this optimism, just days before the conference MPs Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed quit the party over “persistent infighting.” On Friday evening — the night before the conference — there were two different rallies: one organised by Sultana and another by Corbyn. Leaflets were placed on seats at Sultana’s event at the Holiday Inn on Lime Street, accusing Corbyn of not being an” anti-Zionist”. 

More drama ensued when members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) — including the SWP national secretary — were told they were expelled from Your Party because of dual-membership. One of the ousted members, London councillor James Giles, called it a “coordinated purge”, writing on X: “What’s happening today in Liverpool should alarm anyone that cares about democracy”. 

Saturday’s tumult: After a member of her own team was affected by the expulsions, Sultana decided to boycott the first day of the conference. Michael Lavalette — a Lancashire councillor who helped set up a branch of Your Party — was also told he could not enter the ACC, and began a rally outside in protest. Another individual was “forcibly removed” by security.

Members in attendance complained that, despite promises the conference would offer ample chance to debate policy, there was little time allotted to this on the first day. Instead, the conference was largely made up of long speeches and disputes over the party’s identity. 

A new leadership model: On Sunday, the votes were in on what kind of party Your Party would become. A delegate vote favoured a collective leadership structure — instead of the single‑leader model preferred by Corbyn and used by other mainstream political parties.

Despite the earlier expulsions of people with dual membership, delegates also voted overwhelmingly to allow dual membership going forward. Sultana used her speech on Sunday afternoon to lambast what she called a “toxic culture” inside the party, calling Saturday’s expulsions a “witch hunt”. Corbyn was reported to look “visibly annoyed” during her speech.

What does this mean for Your Party? Despite the approval of collective leadership, the margins for this vote were miniscule — only 51.6% in favour, and 48.4% against. Your Party remains divided over how it should be led, with critics suggesting disorganisation and squabbles within the party will be further exacerbated by this new model. 

More importantly, though, is the impact this Liverpool conference has had on the public perception of Your Party. Due to the disputes, much of the media coverage has been negative. There is a risk voters will now see the party as chaotic, unprofessional and unable to govern. 

Despite this, some of Your Party’s supporters remain optimistic. The conference has provided members with a clear founding moment, and as Garston independent councillor Lucy Williams said in her opening speech at the conference on Saturday: “Unity is disagreeing honestly then cracking on with it”. 

Have any thoughts about Your Party’s conference in Liverpool over the weekend? Were you in attendance? Let us know in the comments below.

Your Post briefing

One of the leaders of the Huyton Firm has been jailed for 18 years after being extradited from Holland. Francis Coggins was the joint boss of the organised crime group, alongside his younger brother Vincent. Vincent was jailed in 2020, but for the past five years police have been searching for Francis, who fled the country and has been evading detection in the Dutch coastal town of Zandvoort. He was eventually discovered in June this year after local police arrested him for being drunk and disorderly. Francis pleaded guilty to conspiracies to import and to supply cocaine and heroin earlier this month.  

A series of billboards protesting the monarchy have appeared in Liverpool, as part of a growing 'Ditch the Duchies' campaign from anti-monarchy group Republic. The Duchies pay King Charles and Prince William personal incomes of £27 million and £23 million respectively — despite the land being public property, not private estates. The billboards, which are on Leeds Street, Scotland Road and the Kingsway Tunnel Buttress Wall, read: 'You own the land. They take the profits'.

And this piece by the BBC’s Jonny Humphries on how Paul Doyle carried out the Liverpool parade attack is essential reading. According to witnesses, the morning of the attack was a normal one; Doyle was seen gardening outside his house in Croxteth and chatting with neighbours. He’d moved into the area 10 years ago with his wife, Alison, and was described by friends and family as a “genuinely nice man”. When he drove his car into crowds of pedestrians at the Liverpool FC parade in May, neighbours immediately recognised the vehicle as his. “His wife had come out the next morning and one of our other neighbours asked her 'was that your car?',” one neighbour describes. "She burst into tears and said 'yes', and you didn't really see her after that. I feel sorry for them, it's not their fault and it's ruined their lives."

Post Picks

☕On Friday, Hardware Coffee on Renshaw Street is running their Latte Art Throwdown for coffee lovers and baristas alike. Expect coffee-themed cocktails, fun games and a chance to showcase your coffee art skills. Details here.

🎭On Saturday, the Unity Theatre hosts a special version of To Be Near A Shooting Star, produced by RAWD. Mary and Joseph go on a quest, with tinsel, triumphs and three not-so-wise kings interrupting their journey. Click here for more. 

🎹On Sunday, The University of Liverpool Symphony Orchestra returns to The Tung Auditorium for its annual Christmas concert. This year’s concert is especially significant, marking not only the orchestra’s festive celebration but also its first performance under the baton of newly appointed conductor Helen Harrison. Find out more here.

Your poem of the week

Sometimes,

when it's postcard December

there are champagne reflections

of a temporary Ferris wheel's light

in the proud windows of slow city halls

shook by the sound of fireworks

chased blue-green smoke, laughed up into the sky.

Sometimes,

when it's postcard December

somewhere bound by the Prater

as per the wishes of snow capped treetops

we abandon the warplane museums

lay hat and merry trumpet,

open doors to our fallen pine needles.

Sometimes,

when it's postcard December

to catch breath the warm hall melts

I pretend to be pretending to be

asleep, listening to the old floor creak

what a fairer world would seek?

of China or snowflakes in Athens, Greece.

Postcard December by Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy is a singer-songwriter and painter currently based in Chester. His poems and short fiction have been published by the Singapore-based blog, Eunoia Review, as well as Liverpool’s Bido Lito! Magazine and Urbanista Magazine.

Ryan’s paintings can be viewed on Instagram (@ryanmurphytube), and his lyrics can be heard by searching for his band, Hooton Tennis Club.