In the past few weeks, the unexpected announcement by ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana of a new left-of-Labour party was received ecstatically by millions of people across Britain who are desperate to support a political force that will oppose Keir Starmer’s support for genocide and austerity.

At the time of writing, over 650,000 people have signed up to potentially become members of the party. And beyond typically unperceptive media opinion, the announcement has also seen a flowering of discussion from a British left all too aware of its forced absence from mainstream political debate since 2022.

Last week, Tribune associate editor Marcus Barnett met with ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a key figure in the development of the new party, to discuss some of the various attitudes being hammered out — from questions about how broad a “broad tent” may be to whether it’s possible to avoid the errors of the past when it comes to left-wing electoral challenges to Labour.