Controversies dog Starmer ahead of Labour Party speech

It wasn't really meant to be like this.

After a decade and a half out of power, and a whopping UK election landslide in July, the British Labour Party’s conference should be a festival of celebration for MPs and members alike.

Instead, the new Prime Minister Keir Starmer, less than three months in power, arrived in Liverpool dogged by controversies the likes of which he has so often blamed on the Conservative Party.

Injudicious political donations and internal divisions have hogged the headlines for days.

All of it is happening amid intense disquiet over accusations of deeply harmful economic cuts to some of society’s most vulnerable people.

For some it has become a case of meet the new government, pretty much like the old government.

When he addresses delegates in Liverpool tomorrow Mr Starmer will be hoping to press a reset button as he lays out the agenda for his term in government.

But the fact that a reset is even needed such a short time into their term of office veers between embarrassing and worrying.

Revelations that the prime minister and some his senior ministers accepted donations from a Labour Party donor to pay for clothes, glasses and foreign travel have caused the first significant scandal of Mr Starmer’s premiership.

Mr Starmer is said to have accepted more than £100,000 worth of gifts in recent years, substantially more than most MPs.

He has defended the gifts by saying that all MPs receive presents, and he has acted appropriately by declaring them under House of Commons rules.

But there are many in Labour who question his wisdom in accepting the gifts.

It has not been helped by the fact that since he came into power in the summer Mr Starmer has been clear that very painful economic decisions lie ahead.

In fact, the new prime minister has already begun implementing some of those painful decisions.

A cut to a winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners has caused outrage among many within his own party.

Continuing briefings against Sue Gray, Mr Starmer’s Chief of Staff, have revived memories of the consistent briefing against Dominic Cummings during Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister.

For a leader and party whose entire general election campaign was built around one word - change - there is no comparison to his predecessors that will not cause significant discomfort.