Steerpike

Poor Keir Starmer. One of the first things he did after becoming prime minister was to stuff the unions’ mouths with gold – with his government signing off bumper pay rises for striking train drivers, teachers and junior doctors. Still, as he should probably have known at this Labour conference in Liverpool: money can’t buy you love.  It certainly didn’t stop the RMT’s Mick Lynch from sticking the knife in over the growing controversy over wardrobe-gate this weekend.  On Friday, Starmer, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner were all forced to announce that they would no longer accept clothes as gifts, after receiving thousands of pounds worth of freebies from the Labour donor Lord Alli.

Oh for the days of ‘Oh Jeremy Corbyn’. It only seems like yesterday that the likes of John McDonnell and Richard Burgon were commanding impressive crowds at Labour conference. Even last year, with the Starmerites in the ascendant, Labour left events were standing room only. Now though it seems like the fire has gone out of the revolution… At a Morning Star event entitled, ‘What's in it for the workers? Pushing a Labour government left’, it was slim pickings this morning, with stalwart of the barricades John McDonnell sending his solidarity from home after catching Covid.  Richard Burgon speaks at Morning Star event It was therefore left to Richard Burgon to be the red star of the show.

Sir Keir Starmer is having a tough time of it, what with his ongoing freebie fiasco, the cronyism row and bad briefings about his chief of staff. Now his fortunes have got even worse — literally. It turns out that the PM’s approval rating is at its lowest level yet, dropping a whopping 45 points since Sir Keir’s lot won the general election. It’s hardly the news Starmer would have hoped for as his Labour conference kicks off today…  New polling by Opinium reveals that the Prime Minister’s approval rating has dropped down to -26 since Sir Keir became the country’s leader. It now makes him — by a point — less popular than former PM Rishi Sunak which, er, after his party’s electoral defeat just three months ago says quite something.

Ding ding ding! The gloves are coming off today in Birmingham, where Reform UK is hosting its day-long party conference. The Nigel Farage-led party is celebrating the election of its five MPs and its takedown of the Tories with speeches from a variety of MPs and party bigwigs crammed in between 12pm and 4pm. The current government is getting a fair share of walloping too, of course, with one Reform-Labour feud receiving particular attention. Chief Whip Lee Anderson took to the stage this afternoon to recount his journey from Tory party deputy chairman to Reform's red wall Rottweiler. Mr S would remind readers that Anderson lost the Conservative whip in February this year after making some rather controversial comments about how 'Islamists' have 'got control of [Sadiq] Khan and...

Sir Keir's frockgate scandal is only gathering pace, it appears, after a rather calamitous week for the Prime Minister. Donations received by both Starmer and his wife have been heavily scrutinised after it emerged at the weekend that Lady Starmer's gifts were not declared in line with parliamentary protocol. Rules for thee, but not for me! The PM received some rather, er, ineffectual backing from a variety of government ministers on the airwaves this week – including David Lammy, Yvette Cooper and Angela Eagle – but with the way the tide is turning, Starmer may soon long to be surrounded by his sympathetic, if gaffe-prone, supporters.

Sir Keir Starmer will be hoping his first Labour conference as Prime Minister this weekend goes better than the last week has done. The PM's top team is getting rather worried about a host of negative briefings about the government, with leaks including Starmer's freebie problem and Sue Gray salary reports generating rather suboptimal press for the new Labour Prime Minister. It's hardly the best start to the job... The PM has struggled to shut down the stories, with Downing Street parroting a rather weak line about voters being more concerned with delivery over donations and Sir Keir maintaining that, despite outrage among Labour advisers over Sue Gray's £170,000 wage, he is 'not going to get into discussions about individual salaries'.

Good heavens. Does no one teach journalistic etiquette these days? This afternoon James O'Brien caused a stir on social media after he delivered a rather bizarre handover on air about, er, one of his station's own guests. Not long before O'Brien jumped behind the mic, Nigel Farage had joined LBC's Nick Ferrari for a phone-in – in which he was quizzed on why he had not hosted constituency surgeries in Clacton, whether he had helped to trigger the recent riots and his own personal security. But while the station's loyal listeners might have been interested in listening to what the Reform leader had to say, it seems that one of the outlet's own presenters had other ideas... After the Clacton MP had come off the airwaves, O'Brien stepped up to take over from Ferrari.

The Prime Minister has been generating scores of headlines lately – for all the wrong reasons. It has transpired this week that Sir Keir has accepted over £107,000 worth of gifts since 2019 – the most of any parliamentarian in the same period. Labour has insisted today that voters don't care about all this carry on – but after the national outrage that followed the Partygate scandal, Mr S is pretty sceptical of that point. So what makes up Starmer's most luxurious donations? Steerpike has compiled a handy list below... Footie freebies The PM hasn't made a secret of his obsession with the beautiful game, and it didn't take long for his donors to cotton on to his favourite pastime either.

While Labour's dirty laundry over 'frockgate' is being aired in public, it would be easy to forget there are still Tory leadership contests rumbling on in the background. The Scottish race will conclude at the end of the month, but the UK Conservative party leader will only be announced in November – a decision that has caused much consternation in the party. It now transpires that contender Tom Tugendhat believes the conclusion of the race should be brought forward to ensure a new party leader is chosen before the Budget. Currently the ex-PM Rishi Sunak will be in place when Labour's financial statement announcement takes place on 30 October – just days before a new Tory leader is installed.