Rayner acknowledges ‘anger’ over gifts as row threatens to overshadow conference

Labour began its annual conference on Sunday morning still mired in a row over gifts to senior MPs and questions about the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

Senior figures sought to move on from the row over donations in a series of interviews on Sunday morning ahead of a conference that had been expected to be a victory lap for the party after its landslide election victory in July.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said she understood why people were “frustrated” and “angry” that figures including Sir Keir Starmer had received thousands of pounds in gifts.

But she added these had been “a feature of our politics for a very long time”, arguing that donations were necessary because of the expense of running for office, and stressing the importance of transparency.

Ms Rayner has herself been criticised for staying in a flat owned by Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli while on holiday in New York, but denied breaking any Commons rules about declaring the gift.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Prime Minister hit out at reports suggesting strife in Downing Street focused on Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.

Leaks about Ms Gray’s £170,000 salary while other special advisers have seen their pay held down have contributed to reports of a fractious atmosphere within Number 10 less than three months after coming to power.

But Ms Rayner rejected what she described as a “caricature”, saying the Government was “really focused on making sure we deliver” and that Ms Gray was doing an “exceptional job”.

She added: “It angers me, as someone who has been a trade union rep in the past and who wants to bring workers’ rights, that somehow it’s OK to demonise workers in their workplace through the press and the media.”

The two rows risk overshadowing the party’s annual conference in Liverpool, with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson acknowledging they were “frustrating” and “a distraction” for a party wishing to talk about its agenda in Government.

She defended using money from Lord Alli to fund a reception to mark her 40th birthday, saying it was “in a work context” with guests including journalists and trade unionists and “education people”.

The Prime Minister himself has sought to strike a more optimistic note at the start of the conference, telling a reception on Saturday night he wanted his Government to be compared with Clement Attlee’s administration, which transformed Britain after the Second World War.

He also used interviews with Labour-friendly newspapers to vow that there would be no return to the austerity agenda pursued by David Cameron’s administration.

Sunday has also brought several policy announcements, including “planning passports” aimed at densifying urban areas, a military recruitment drive and plans to revamp the careers service.

Tory frontbencher Paul Holmes said: “As Labour’s Party Conference begins after fewer than 12 weeks in power, Keir Starmer’s Government has been engulfed in scandal and infighting, showing that the only change they offer is a change of clothes.”

SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said: “People are understandably angry that Sir Keir Starmer and Labour Party ministers have been throwing birthday parties and lining their pockets with around £800,000 of luxury freebies and donations, while ordinary families are facing the pain of damaging Labour Government austerity cuts.”