‘They lost a historic opportunity’: Ken Loach laments Your Party infighting

Ken Loach has accused Your Party of squandering an opportunity to unite the left in the fight against the far right after the upstart socialist movement founded by the former Labour figures Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana became mired in infighting . “There was great hope when Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana joined forces; 800,000 people expressed interest – that’s three times the size of a political party,” he said. “But I’m afraid some of the behaviours were very poor and they lost a historic opportunity.” The British film director and longtime Corbyn ally spoke to the Guardian before an official Cannes film festival screening of Land and Freedom – 31 years after the Spanish civil war drama first premiered on the Croisette. The film follows a British communist who travels to Spain expecting a united anti-fascist struggle, only to encounter bitter ideological divisions between competing leftwing factions – tensions Loach believes remain deeply relevant today. He said: “The split on the left was very important to explore in the film. It contributed to the defeat in Spain.” Loach, who was expelled from the Labour party in 2021 after refusing to disavow other removed members, said mainstream political parties had increasingly adopted rhetoric once associated with the far right. “The Conservative leadership uses the same language as Nigel Farage, and the Labour right responds to that,” he said. …