The Labour Party Conference has once again been thrown into chaos as Keir Starmer suffered an embarrassing slip-up during a key speech.

Sir Keir was welcomed on stage in Liverpool on Tuesday (September 24) by raucous applause, before running through a string of Labour pledges on pensions, veterans and knife crime.

However, the prime minister was left red-faced when calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and a demand to Hamas that Israeli hostages be released. Instead of hostages, he said “sausages”.

His gaffe comes just a day after Rachel Reeves was heckled by a pro-Palestine activist before he was grabbed by the neck and hauled out of the venue.

The heckler shouted about the sale of arms to Israel before security removed him from the hall. He shouted: “I thought we were voting for change Rachel, climate breakdown is on our doorstep.”.

Ms Reeves responded that Labour “represents working people, not a party of protest.” But there was more drama during Sir Keir’s speech when another protester heckled the PM.

Sir Keir quipped in response: “This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference… While he’s been protesting, we’ve been changing the party. That’s why we’ve got a Labour Government.”

The PM’s “sausages” gaffe came amid a call for de-escalation between Lebanon and Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza. He told conference-goers: “This is a time when great forces demand a decisive government prepared to face the future. We can see that again in the Middle East today.

“So I call again for restraint and de-escalation at the border between Lebanon and Israel. Again, all parties to pull back from the brink.

“I call again for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the return of the hostages, and a recommitment to the two-state solution, a recognised Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.

“And that’s the message I will take to the UN General Assembly when I travel there later today, alongside our steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.”

In a wide-ranging speech, the prime minister said “the work of change” has begun, going on to list action already taken by his government.

He reeled off measures including planning reform, an end to the junior doctors’ strike and the launch of GB Energy, which he confirmed will be based in Aberdeen.

Sir Keir Starmer promised to build “a Britain that works for you”. He said: “Brick by brick, we can build a new home, a better home, built to last, built with pride, but above all, built together.

“A nation rebalanced so it once again serves the interests of working people, and through the power unleashed by that process, a renewal of who we are.”

In a bid to defend his Government’s cutting the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners, Sir Keir promised “every pensioner will be better off with Labour”.

He said: “I understand many of the decisions we must take will be unpopular. If they were popular, they’d be easy, but the cost of filling that black hole in our public finances, that will be shared fairly.”

Within weeks of entering Downing Street, Labour announced the winter fuel payment would be means-tested, stripping households across the country of vital support this winter.

Promising “no return to Tory austerity” and rebuilding public services, he added: “If you can’t take that on faith, perhaps because you’re concerned about the winter fuel allowance, then I get that.

“As I say, if this path were popular or easy we would have walked it already. But the risk of showing to the world, as the Tories did, that this country does not fund its policies properly, is a risk we can never take again.

“Stabilising our economy is the first step of this long-term plan, the only way we keep prices low, cut NHS waiting lists, and secure the triple lock so that every pensioner in this country, every pensioner, will be better off with Labour.”

The speech follows a torrid spell for Labour that saw any feelgood factor from the July election landslide abruptly disappear.

The party has spent weeks fielding difficult questions about the thousands of pounds of gifts received by Sir Keir and senior figures such as Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner.

And unions and MPs are furious about the scrapping of winter fuel payments for 10million pensioners, with a showdown vote at conference potentially happening tomorrow. Sir Keir will not be present – as he is dashing off to New York straight after the speech to attend the UN general assembly.

Before Sir Keir appeared activists were pumped up with a Star Wars-style display on the big screens of the list of constituencies Labour won on July 4.

The PM was then teed up with a video showing the events of election night, and his victory comments.

Striding on stage he compared the conference having the highest attendance in history to his first speech – to just a cameraman under Covid rule. ‘Do you remember? Most people don’t,’ he joked.

Sir Keir said he was aiming to ‘build a new Britain’, telling conference: ‘Built from that age-old spirit of creativity and enterprise. The pride and ambition of working people.

‘That when matched by a government of service, a decisive government, a government prepared to use its power for justice, opportunity and equal respect, can deliver a Britain that belongs to you.’