Greetings from the Labour Party conference in Brighton.

With a backdrop of chaos at petrol stations affecting jobs, livelihoods and getting food on to supermarket shelves in many parts of the country, Labour have been having rows about party rule changes, and whether it’s acceptable to call political opponents “scum”.

After a weekend of internal wrangling, occasionally bursting into the open, Sir Keir Starmer was relieved last night to have passed a watered-down version of the changes to how party leaders, and candidates, are selected.

Politics live: Follow the latest updates from the Sky News team at Labour’s conference

Starmer’s allies – out in the conference bars last night – were celebrating what had earlier in the day been billed as an embarrassing retreat, turning into a narrow win against the party’s left.

The leadership wants to get on the front foot today, with an eye-catching policy about their plans to scrap business rates if elected, in order to signal their friendliness to business, and give flagging high streets a boost.

But the fallout from deputy leader Angela Rayner’s tirade against the Tories as “homophobic, racist scum” continues to make headlines.

Labour conference: Sir Keir Starmer rules out nationalising big energy firms if he becomes prime minister

Labour conference 2021: Sir Keir Starmer’s watered-down rule changes to be put to delegates after bruising party row

Sir Keir Starmer must confront an unfortunate question as he prepares for his first Labour conference as leader

Privately, some shadow cabinet colleagues are furious that the comments at a late-night event on Saturday have overshadowed their conference. One told me: “Even if it wasn’t deliberate, there is no excuse for it.”

Both Rachel Reeves and Sadiq Khan distanced themselves from her comments this morning, the shadow chancellor telling Sky’s Kay Burley: “That’s not how I talk to people”.

There are whispers from MPs about the deputy leader wanting to steal the limelight from her boss.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

As well as a clash of styles, the party’s post-Brexit narrative is clearly still being worked out.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves this morning declared – when questioned about the lorry driver shortage – that the party did not support free movement of people.

Starmer had said he would still try to make the case for it, when running for the leadership last year. He also refused to rule out any tax rises, including income tax, while his shadow chancellor shot that idea down.

Subscribe to the All Out Politics podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Related posts:

Hancock made several claims about COVID response that may turn out to be problematic Johnson says working with Biden is ‘breath of fresh air’ after first face-to-face talks G7 leaders’ beach BBQ ‘COVID secure’ and did stick to social distancing rules, No 10 insists ‘You don’t get to stoke the fire, then pretend to be disgusted’: England star hits out at Priti Patel Sturgeon calls on PM to ‘reassess’ licence for Cambo oil field Thousands of ‘red wall’ jobs at risk without green investment, TUC warns PM Work and pensions secretary ‘entirely happy’ with benefits cut – despite senior Tories’ warning Unions leader piles pressure on Starmer to back wealth tax to fund social care 75 Tory MPs likely to rebel against PM on vote for further COVID restrictions ‘Great idea’: Zahawi defends plan to put Navy in charge of policing Channel migrant boats Government accused of attacking BBC to distract from ‘partygate’ ahead of expected licence fee freeze Boris Johnson has thrown some ‘red meat’ but the drip, drip of damage continues