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Andrew Feinberg
White House Correspondent
Angela Rayner may have floundered on the BBC while talking about gifts from wealthy donors, but her opening speech to the Labour conference injected some life into what was threatening to be a despondent affair.
Dark clouds gathering over Liverpool as activists arrived symbolised a sense of foreboding about the state of the new government.
The party is still less than three months on from the exhilaration of its massive election victory over the Tories.
What should have been a celebration of a historic victory has been overshadowed by rows about Sue Gray, Lord Alli, football tickets, holidays in New York and clothes for the prime minister’s wife.
The idea that Labour ministers so early into a government are behaving like pigs at the trough, much like the Tories, has set a jarring note for the whole event.
Rayner’s suggestion to Laura Kuenssberg that it was OK to take gifts because “all MPs do it” hardly sat well with the “change” narrative the party promised voters.
There is also concern among unions and those on the left that Keir Starmer is leading them to a new age of austerity after winter fuel payments were removed from 10 million pensioners – and with Rachel Reeves preparing to wield the axe to sort out the £22bn “black hole” in public finances.
So it was important that Rayner came out from the get-go with a robust, tub-thumping speech.
After fighting back tears, she delivered that in spades, with a celebration of the election victory and announcing a succession of reforms for which the left has been clamouring – whether it be rights for workers and renters or building new homes.
Lines of worry on members’ faces in the auditorium visibly turned into smiles.
The cheers which greeted her speech reflected the optimism of Rayner’s message and struck an emotional chord with her audience.
It is now up to her fellow ministers to build on the sense of hope she has brought to proceedings – it may still prove a significant challenge.
