His government is facing a reckoning with a battered economy and an electorate impatient for change. The mood among Labour members gathering in the northwest England city of Liverpool has been further dampened by a tempest over Starmer’s acceptance of freebies at a time when the millions of people are struggling with the cost of living.

This should be a time of celebration for Britain's Labour Party, which opens its annual conference on Sunday, less than three months after winning power in a landslide to put an end to 14 years in opposition.

Starmer won the July 4 election on a promise to “restore politics as a force for good” after scandal-tarnished years under the Conservatives