Barely an hour after Zarah Sultana announced that she was leaving Labour to lead a new Left-wing party with Jeremy Corbyn, the Muslim Engagement and Development (Mend) campaign group posted a statement on X wishing the pair “every success in this bold new chapter”.

Labour refused to engage with Mend after Sir Keir Starmer took over as leader, and cut the party’s ties with groups accused of links to Islamism. In his official review of the Prevent anti-extremism programme in 2023, Sir William Shawcross described Mend as an “Islamist organisation” and, before becoming Met Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley highlighted the group’s alarmist opposition to British counter-extremism measures.