After the Labour ‘freebie’ scandal, Starmer is running out of time to get his government back on track

When Labour won a stunning landslide victory in July, few senior party figures would have imagined the start of the party conference in Liverpool would have been overshadowed by the very kind of sleaze allegations Sir Keir Starmer had understandably exploited when the Conservatives were in power.

Some perspective is needed: we have not yet seen any evidence the donations received by senior Labour figures, including Sir Keir, influenced government decisions or the handing of contracts to political allies, as the Tories did with their “VIP lane” during the pandemic. Sir Keir is no Boris Johnson; he was dubbed “Mr Rules” by colleagues and looked well-placed to deliver the “government of service” he promised.

That image has now been tarnished by the revelation that Sir Keir received £107,000 in gifts, hospitality and benefits since 2019, the highest of any MP. He is not the only one to benefit from the largesse of Waheed Alli, the Labour peer and donor.

It was striking that Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who handled Sunday’s broadcast round, found their interviews dominated by their own “freebies” from the ubiquitous Lord Alli.

They would normally have been batting on a good wicket two months after the election win. Although they included in the Commons register of interests Ms Rayner’s stay in Lord Alli’s New York apartment and his funding of a “work” birthday party and another reception for Ms Phillipson, the list of “freebies” keeps on growing. It is distracting the Labour leadership from its plan to illustrate the conference slogan that “change begins”.

The controversy will underline the view of many voters that our politicians are “all the same”, and play into the hands of Sir Keir’s left-wing MP and trade union critics who spot a “government of self-service”.

All governments inevitably get sucked away from implementing their strategy into day-to-day fire-fighting – although there are doubts whether Labour had a comprehensive plan for governing as well as winning.

Remarkably, the prime minister already seems to be fighting on too many fronts. He needs to get a grip after the build-up to the conference was eclipsed by media reports about “freebies” and infighting among his Downing Street aides.

Sir Keir should dispense quickly with the services of Simon Case, a surprise appointment by Mr Johnson as cabinet secretary. Mr Case’s allies deny claims he is behind media leaks about Sue Gray, the powerful No 10 chief of staff, but there is long-standing tension between the two. Mr Case is expected to leave his post in the new year on medical grounds. There is no case for a prolonged departure, which would make Sir Keir look weak when he needs to look strong.

Even if the Labour leadership manages to switch the conference spotlight to policy, it will still have an uphill battle to convince the public and the party that the gloom ahead of next month’s Budget will not result in “a return to austerity”, as Rachel Reeves will tell delegates on Monday and Sir Keir will repeat on Tuesday. Again, a hard argument to win when the chancellor is to deprive 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel allowance.

The government should choose its targets with greater care. Ms Reeves will argue her guiding star is “stability”, yet the government has looked anything but in recent days.

Both the prime minister and chancellor will doubtless try to lift the sights of voters and party to the destination to which their “painful” journey will take them. Sir Keir should also consider strengthening the ministerial code of conduct so a minister attending an event in their official capacity should declare it in their Commons register to increase transparency. He should act speedily on the plan he outlined in opposition to set up an ethics and integrity commission.

There is still time for Sir Keir to get his government back on track, but he has no time to waste.