Jeremy Corbyn’s new party is bad news for the whole UK, not just Labour.

Since the general election, the UK Labour party have enjoyed watching Nigel Farage’s Reform UK eat further and further into the Conservative party’s polling numbers; now it looks like Sir Keir is in for a dose of his own medicine. Despite the irony, however, Corbyn’s return to the political mainstream would represent a dark turn in UK politics.

After months of media speculation and a botched late night launch earlier in July, veteran left winger and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has finally announced the official formation of his new political party.

In a statement on X, Corbyn wrote that the UK needed a “new kind of political party… that can take on the rich and powerful – and win.” As well as Corbyn’s old-school socialism, his new party promises to make the war in Gaza a core issue in its campaigning.

Corbyn’s return to the frontlines of British politics is a welcome return for those on the Labour left who are frustrated at Keir Starmer’s leadership, or lack thereof. The Prime Minister has faced immense criticism over the UK’s response to the war in Gaza and was recently forced to capitulate to a backbench rebellion over proposed welfare cuts.

Frances Ryan, a Guardian columnist, posed the question on the lips of many frustrated left wingers back in February when she asked, specifically on welfare cuts, “how is this different from life under the Tories?”

Polling from More In Common and Find Out Now has suggested that a new Corbyn-led left wing party could capture between 10-15% of the UK vote before any campaigning has even begun. Not only would this be a disaster for the Labour party, it would also be a disaster for the UK’s political fabric.

Corbyn’s new party is already setting out a radical stall. His co-launch partner, suspended former-Labour MP Zarah Sultana, has made increasingly radical comments concerning Keir Starmer, especially on Gaza. On the 13th July, Sultana wrote on X “it’s their genocide too”, describing the Labour government; on the 22nd July she wrote that “Keir Starmer and David Lammy both belong in the Hague.”

This rhetoric will no doubt be popular with the so-called “Gaza independents” already sitting in the Commons, elected after successfully campaigning on anti-Israel sentiment to unseat Labour MPs in 2024. Corbyn formed an independent group in September last year to coordinate with these MPs. If they decide to join Corbyn’s new party alongside Zultana, the fledgling left wing movement would be propelled to becoming the 5th largest political party in parliament.

Corbyn’s return heralds a sinister turn in British politics. Since Corbyn’s resounding defeat in 2019, Keir Starmer, to his credit, has made a real effort to clean up the Labour party. This culminated in Keir throwing Corbyn out of the party over his abject refusal to apologise for antisemitism in Labour, which exploded under Corbyn’s leadership.

Now that Corbyn has a good chance at the political mainstream once again, British Jews will be rightly concerned. At the height of the Labour antisemitism scandal under Corbyn’s leadership, a staggering 87% of British Jews believed that Corbyn was antisemitic, according to polling conducted by Survation.

Now, after a tidal wave of antisemitism in the UK following the October 7th attacks, Corbyn is relaunching his party just as Israel is a hot button issue. Corbyn failed to keep antisemitism in his party in check when Israel was barely in the headlines. I shudder to think how his new party will handle the issue now.

Conservatives might be tempted to celebrate the launch of Corbyn’s new party. It is a major headache for Sir Keir and will further split the left wing vote that the Green party had begun eating in too. The country soundly rejected his 1970s socialism in 2019 when issues around antisemitism were just another reason why Corbyn could not be trusted with power. Now, with a newly radical and motivated coalition, Corbyn bursting on to the already tense UK political scene only means bad news for the UK.