Labour’s first party conference in government in 15 years was supposed to be a triumphant afterparty – a barnstorming celebration of July’s historic election win, combined with some upbeat messages about how the new Government was going to change Britain for good. Listening to the parade of Cabinet ministers on the conference stage, that is exactly how it might seem.
But away from the main events, the gathering is a frustration-fest. In hotel bars, overcrowded receptions and quiet corners of the conference centre, ministers, MPs and advisers privately bemoan the events that have led to government ministers being forced to answer more questions here in Liverpool about the Prime Minister’s glasses and the Chancellor’s suits than any government policy or priority.
The anger over what is being dubbed “Donationgate” is directed mainly at Keir Starmer’s Downing Street team. Labour insiders shake their heads and ask how No10 allowed this to happen. And why did they respond so sluggishly when the stories started emerging? Their gripes are valid: there is a lack of political nous at the heart of Downing Street.
This is partly a reflection of the fact that Keir Starmer is not a natural politician. He is a successful lawyer, an intelligent technocrat and a capable manager – but politics is neither his background nor his area of expertise. Rather than recognising this weakness and addressing it in his team, he appointed a chief of staff, in Sue Gray, with the same strengths but also the same weaknesses: a competent, efficient bureaucrat, not a cunning political beast.
Starmer must quickly learn the lessons of the donations row and act to ensure the Government does not keep enduring injuries from self-inflicted wounds. His team needs to do a much better job of foreseeing problems before they arise, understanding how its decisions will be interpreted by the public, and putting more thought into mitigating the damage caused by contentious decisions. He must do so rather than be taken by surprise by the level of anger, as seems to have happened with decision to scrap universal winter fuel payments.
Yet, the backlash against Downing Street misses a fundamental point: this was not just a failing of the manager or his staff, but of the team. Keir Starmer is not the only senior government figure to have taken donations from Labour peer Lord Alli and others. Several senior Cabinet ministers also accepted hefty payments for clothes, holidays and parties – showing a baffling lack of political judgement.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, for example, has admitted taking Lord Alli’s money to help fund her 40th birthday party, while Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, received £7,500 for clothing from another donor.
And then there is Angela Rayner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, who accepted money from Lord Alli for a wardrobe refresh and benefited from using his luxury New York apartment during a holiday late last year.
There is an important element of this saga that so far has been overlooked. For many years, Britain has been governed by people for whom expensive suits, lavish parties and luxury apartments were simply an accepted everyday part of life. The fact that Starmer, Reeves, Rayner and Phillipson have experienced elements of that world only with the help of wealthy donors is a reminder that, for the first time in a long time, we have a government led by ordinary people from ordinary backgrounds.
While that is a good thing, it is also why this row is so damaging: it undermines the claims of our current leaders that, unlike many of their multi-millionaire predecessors, they are in touch with the British people. If that were true, they would have immediately grasped that Labour politicians accepting lavish perks from multimillionaires was, at the very least, a bad look. They would have politely but firmly declined Lord Alli’s offers of help with fashion updates and overseas holidays.
In that context, the stories are particularly damaging for Rayner. The Deputy Prime Minister is the darling of the Labour grassroots, popular with left and right of the party alike. Much of this is because she is widely seen as more normal, more down-to-earth, more in touch with ordinary people than perhaps anyone else in the Cabinet. While there may be truth in this, the donations row threatens to shatter this reputation.
After all, if Rayner really did have her finger on the pulse of public opinion as her supporters suggest, she would have realised immediately that accepting donations for fancy clothing and luxury holidays was a dreadful idea. She would have sensed, instinctively, that living the high life in the Big Apple at the expense of a businessman who is worth an estimated £200m had the potential to cause her and her party major problems down the line.
Rayner, perhaps more than anyone else in government, should have realised how this would look. No doubt she would now conclude that the glamourous clothes and the few days in the swanky apartment were not worth the damage that has been caused this week. But that should have been blindingly obvious at the time.
The point is not that politicians should not do nice things or wear expensive clothes – it is that they are paid enough to pay for it themselves, like everybody else. Rayner’s former colleagues in care work earn a fraction of what she does, but still have to pay for their own clothes and holidays. How are they supposed to feel about their former co-worker, earning several times what they do, being handed them for free?
Perhaps it is unfair that Rayner stands to suffer most from the slew of stories about fancy clothes and New York apartments. The reality is, though, that the contrast between what she is seen to stand for, what she claims to stand for, and what is contained in the stories about her this week is starker than for other senior Labour figures.
There is no doubt that damage has been done, to individuals and to the Government. In fact, the donations row is particularly dangerous for Labour because, so early in its time in power, it undermines the very core of the party’s promise to the country: change.
Britain voted for Starmer and his team in part because they promised to waft the stench of cronyism, sleaze and scandal out of Westminster and Whitehall. This week, though, voters are holding their nostrils once again.
While the last few days have been wounding for the Government, this particular saga will blow over. Come the next election, voters will not have Angela Rayner’s trouser suits or Keir Starmer’s glasses at the front of their minds.
What should worry Labour supporters more is what the debacle says about the judgement of the Prime Minister and his team, and of senior Cabinet ministers too. Loud alarm bells should be ringing in Downing Street. The new Government cannot keep being caught unawares, scrambling frantically to put out fires it has itself unwittingly ignited. Bluntly, it needs to get a grip. If it doesn’t, this will not be the last Labour conference to be overshadowed by entirely avoidable crises.
Ben Kentish presents his LBC show from Monday to Friday at 10pm, and is former Westminster editor
