Labour’s first conference as the governing party in 15 years felt more like a wake than a celebration.
Ministers and members arrived at Liverpool docks in wet and windy conditions that chimed with the mood.
Just 80 days into power and Sir Keir Starmer is already more unpopular than Rishi Sunak.
His ratings have plummeted by an astonishing 45 points in the weeks since he entered No 10 on the back of a historic landslide.
On Monday, trade unions will hold a protest outside the conference centre against punishing cuts to winter fuel payments.
Labour MPs are publicly attacking the government in the strongest terms, with Rachael Maskell saying she was “sickened” by the donation scandal, particularly at a time when money is being taken off pensioners.
Ministers and special advisers do little to hide their frustration at the dire position the government has got itself into.
Fingers are being pointed at the Treasury over the calamitous decision to axe winter fuel payments.
Insiders suggest it was one of a list of options that officials have always wanted reformed but a chancellor with political nous would have foreseen the fury such a move would have.
Ministers appearing on the broadcast media rounds are coming up with less and less credible explanations as to why the Prime Minister needed someone to buy him and his wife new clothes.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner suggested she accepted the use of a swanky flat in the United States and clothes from Lord Ali because she is working class.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she accepted donations to fund her birthday party because it was in a “work context”.
Meanwhile, Sue Gray, the PM’s chief of staff, is on the front pages nearly as often as he is as tensions in No 10 continue to be leaked.
This time last year, the atmosphere at conference was jubilant and the party was disciplined as it sensed it was on the brink of power.
How quickly it all went so wrong.
SEE MORE :
Keir Starmer torn to shreds over freebies – ‘only stopping as you got caught’
Sir Keir Starmer is desperately trying to stop a political row over accepting lucrative freebies from overshadowing the Labour Party’s first annual conference. It’s the first one since winning the general election in July.
Sir Keir Starmer is hoping the political rows do not overshadow the party conference (Image: Getty)
The row has since engulfed his wife, Victoria, his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, and his chancellor Rachel Reeves, and threatens to upend his premiership after only a few months in power.
Last night, Downing Street confirmed that Sir Keir, Ms Rayner, and Ms Reeves would not accept any further donations for clothing. The U-turn will not apply to hospitality gifts or other similar donations.
Meanwhile, Ms Rayner has struck a more apologetic tone today, telling the BBC that she understood why people were “frustrated” and “angry” about the issue.
However, political commentator Patrick West suggested that the senior Labour politicians were only rowing back on the freebies because they were caught.
Rayner has struck a more apologetic tone today, saying that she understood why people were angry (Image: Getty)
Writing in the Spectator, Mr West compared Mr Starmer and his allies to a cat “caught on the kitchen table, its head in the butter dish”.
He noted: “It looks alarmed, scared it has been found out. But it’s not sorry. Cats have no morality. They fear only repercussions. This is how Starmer and his cohorts are behaving.
“This U-turn has been prompted not by morality, but by expedience. He and his government show regret, but not remorse. Labour is undertaking it not because they feel bad over the tawdry affair, but because it looks bad.”
Sir Keir has been forced to answer questions over why he accepted nearly £40,000 in free football tickets, or £18,000 worth of clothes and glasses.
Mr West said that the series of dismal poll ratings for Sir Keir this week may have prompted the swift U-turn.
A new YouGov poll has found that one in seven of those who voted for Labour three months ago now regret doing so, while nearly two-thirds of all voters say Mr Starmer’s decision to accept freebies for his wife was unacceptable.
In another sign that the honeymoon for the new government is well and truly over, the latest Opinium poll for the Observer reveals that the PM’s approval rating has plunged below that of the Tory leader and his predecessor in No 10 Rishi Sunak, suffering a huge 45-point drop since July.
Almost half of the public (45 percent) now have a more negative view of Starmer and Labour since they came into office.
The Labour Party conference is now underway with a speech from Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)
Only 27 percent of voters think the government’s opening months in power has been a success, while 57 percent think it has not been successful
James Crouch, head of policy and public affairs at Opinium said: “While the prime minister might have a world-beating new wardrobe, voters are refusing to wear his government’s austerity drive.
“Not only do the public feel worse off than they did before the election, but concerns that Labour has focused too much on government finances rather than growth have almost wiped out their lead on the economy. Much of the blame for this tone is being directed at Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, who now have approval ratings on a par with Rishi Sunak.
