Angela Rayner fought back tears of joy as she opened the Labour Party Conference today – despite a Labour freebie crisis and looming union battle over winter fuel payments for pensioners.

The Deputy Prime Minister this morning opened the Labour conference in Liverpool, the first to take place with the party in power in 15 years.

And she opened by thanking voters who backed the party at the July election, saying: ‘You entrusted us with the task of change and we will not forget it. You kept faith with us and we will keep faith with you.’

But it came amid a simmering row over clothing money from a top party donor accepted by Ms Rayner and other senior Labour figures including Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

She is also facing questions over a New Year holiday to New York where she stayed at Lord Alli’s £2m apartment, after it emerged her ex-boyfriend Sam Tarry stayed with her.

The party conference is also set to be a difficult one, with trade unions demanding the reinstatement of universal winter fuel payments for pensioners, which the Government is making means-tested to save money.

Ms Rayner told the conference: ‘They thought our Party was history. But this year Conference we made history. Together.  Not just a victory for our party but a victory of our values.’

But shadow foreign minister Alicia Kearns said: ‘Labour offered a government of service, but all they’ve shown is a government of self-service with blatant efforts to mislead: office costs turn out to be clothes, a holiday for one is a romantic getaway for two.

‘The irony of Angela Rayner labelling herself as ‘overly transparent’ after failing to declare who was on her all-expenses paid holiday to New York won’t be lost on the British people, not least pensioners who will suffer this winter as they’re forced to choose between heating and eating because of Labour’s cruel cuts to Winter Fuel Payments.’

In other developments at conference today:

• Ms Gray is expected to skip the Labour conference in Liverpool this week amid the backlash against her; 
• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said two 40th birthday celebrations funded with £14,000 in donations were held in a ‘work context’; 
• Sir Keir is facing fresh claims about accepting freebies after being pictured with Ms Gray at a Tottenham match;
• Rachel Reeves and Sir Keir have tried to play down fears about the amount of pain to come in the Budget; 
• Ms Reeves has said she ‘leads by example’ by going into the office five days a week; 

It came as Ms Rayner faced fresh questions over a freebie holiday to New York paid for by a Labour

 donor after it emerged that her ex-boyfriend joined her in the Big Apple.

The Deputy Prime Minister is already facing questions over a five-night New Year stay in a £2million apartment owned by Lord Alli.

Now it has emerged that married Sam Tarry flew out to join her for the festive stay in the 56th floor Manhattan apartment, with a gym, jacuzzi and pool.

The leftwinger, who was sacked as a junior minister for supporting rail strikes, was MP for Ilford South at the time, but was deselected ahead of the July election.

He paid for his own flights but shared the accommodation paid for by the Labour peer, who is at the centre of a row over donations he made to Sir Keir and Victoria Starmer for clothes, the Sunday Times reported.

This morning Ms Rayner insisted that she had not broken any rules over what she said had been a ‘private holiday’. She said Lord Alli was a ‘friend’ as well as a donor but she declared the break in any case because he was also a donor.

She told the BBC‘s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: ‘I don’t believe I broke any rules.

‘I had the use of the apartment and I disclosed that I had the use of the apartment.

‘In fact, I think I was overly transparent because I think it was important despite it being a personal holiday because that person, as a friend, had already donated to me in the past for my deputy leadership.’

Sir Keir is already facing a meltdown as he kicks off his first Labour conference in power less than three months after an historic election landslide.

The PM has admitted he needs to stabilise his government as he struggles to contain fury over ‘freebies’, a wave of bitter briefing about his chief aide Sue Gray, and the backlash at axing winter fuel payments.

Anglela Rayner was left to field questions on TV this morning, as Sir Keir shunned the traditional leader’s slot on the BBC.

Ms Rayner also tried to play down the internal warfare over Ms Gray, saying she has a ‘huge amount of respect in the Cabinet’. Asked by Laura Kuenssberg if the No10 chief of staff would still be in her job by Christmas, Ms Rayner said: ‘I think so, absolutely.’

Sir Keir is in Liverpool for the first day of the annual gathering, but hopes that it might be a victory lap after the extraordinary victory in July have been summarily dashed.

A grim poll by Opinium found Sir Keir’s personal ratings have plummeted by 45 points since the summer, with only 24 per cent of voters saying he is doing a good job.

Half of the public viewed him negatively, taking his overall net rating to minus 26 – slightly worse than Rishi Sunak at minus 25. Sir Keir’s first approval rating as PM was plus 19.

Ms Rayner also used her speech to take a swing at gender-critical wannabe Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over her trans rights row with ex-Dr Who David Tennant.

The Deputy Prime Minister was emotional as she kick-stated the event in Liverpool, the first with her party in government since 2009.

But as well as setting out Labour’s plans for government, including a slew of new rights for workers, she also had a dig at Ms Badenoch, who is seen as the favorite to become new Tory leader.

In June the then Tory women and equalities minister branded Mr Tennant a ‘bigot’ for using an LGBT award win to say he wished she did not exist and she should ‘shut up’.

Referencing the row, and Mr Tennant’s former role as the eccentric Timelord, Ms Rayner joked: ‘It was bad enough when they had to deal with Nigel Farage (at the election), now she is doing side-deals with the Daleks.’

Mr Tennant played Dr Who, whose arch enemies are the Daleks, between 2005 and 2010.

Picking up an award for celebrity trans ally in June he told a cheering audience: ‘I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up.’

It prompted the belligerent Tory to reply in a stinging tirade on X, vowing: ‘I will not shut up.

‘I will not be silenced by men who prioritise applause from Stonewall over the safety of women and girls.

‘A rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.

‘Tennant is one of Labour’s celebrity supporters. This is an early example of what life will be like if they win.’

Addressing the row this morning, a jubilant Ms Rayner joked about the ongoing Tory leadership campaign, which Ms Badenoch is in.

‘Next week they will gather in the wreckage of their defeat. Reduced to 10-minute auditions for wannabee leaders, beating each other to different shades of blue. On a show that no-one is watching,’ she told the audience in Liverpool.

‘Perhaps that’s why Kemi launched her leadership campaign with an attack on Doctor Who.

‘It was bad enough when they wanted to deal with Farage. Now she’s doing side deals with the Daleks.

‘But Conference, at least after three months as shadow housing secretary, she finally expressed concern about a tenant. It’s just a pity it was David Tennant.’