ByJosh Jackman, Josh Jackman
A new left-wing political party voted on a motion supporting Islamic State at its first annual conference.
The motion put forward at Left Unity's national meeting in London suggested that IS had "progressive potential" and that the Muslim caliphate it wanted to create "could only be a stabilising force" in the Middle East, replacing the "brutal regimes" in which Muslims lived.
Proposed by member John Tummon and seconded by colleague Mark Anthony France, the motion described IS as forming part of the "resistance of the peoples of the Middle East against the imperialist intervention of western capitalist powers".
Media officer Tom Walker explained that Left Unity aimed to be a democratic movement which allows all participants to raise issues, and that the motion received no support from anyone except Mr Tummon.
"We are an absolutely democratic party and any member has the right to bring a motion to our conference - including ones we vehemently disagree with.
"The motion in question was voted down near-unanimously. There was a lot of anger on conference floor and they were heckled throughout. Left Unity's position on Islamic State is that we condemn it unequivocally."
Created in November 2013, Left Unity has 2,000 members and describes itself as "a new kind of party, with feminism, socialism, environmentalism and anti-racism at its heart".