Keir Starmer wanted his Labour Party’s annual conference to set out how it will deliver on its "change" promise to British voters. Instead, the prime minister and his top aides spent the first day trying to put to rest internal doubts about decisions taken in the first weeks in power.

The premier arrived in Liverpool amid fresh reports about political donations and gifts, and backbiting among top staffers over who wields power in Downing Street. That was on top of ructions about tax rises and budget cuts expected to dominate the government’s first budget next month.

Labour’s top team used speeches and interviews Sunday to try to shift the focus back to what the government — elected in a landslide on July 4 — has promised on housing and what it calls a decade-long project to rebuild public services.