DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Corbynites have Keir Starmer firmly in their sights

Having guided Labour back to power after 14 wilderness years, Sir Keir Starmer must have expected his first party conference as Prime Minister to be a moment of unalloyed triumph.

He may not quite have imagined his path being strewn with palm leaves, but he must have anticipated an enthusiastic reception after delivering such a massive landslide.

Instead, there is rebellion in the Liverpool air. The Corbynites – backed by militant trade union leaders – are on the march. And Sir Keir is very much in their sights.

The current focus of their ire is the Government's plan to withdraw winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners.

Though many Labour MPs are passionately opposed to this measure, party whips have largely managed to keep the lid on dissent.

Sharon Graham, hard-Left leader of the Unite union, is determined to blow it off. She has attacked the policy as 'cruel', saying it should be reversed and (inevitably) replaced with a punitive new wealth tax.

To Sir Keir's intense discomfort she now wants a conference vote on the issue, which although non-binding would be humiliating and emphasise stark divisions in the party.

This isn't the only example of discord. The revolt over Sir Keir's refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap resulted in seven MPs being suspended.

There has also been much criticism of the leader and other ministers for accepting gifts from wealthy donors. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell was especially scathing, saying the PM's namesake Keir Hardie and other early Labour luminaries would be 'spinning in their graves'.

The whole country has been disappointed at the Government's lamentable performance since July 4. For the Left this presents an opportunity.

They know their quasi-Marxist policies could never win an election, so they hope to achieve their aims by stealth. The weaker Sir Keir becomes, the easier they believe it would be to drive Labour to the far Left.

Jeremy Corbyn may have been expelled from the party. But like Banquo's ghost, his spectre looms large at this victory feast. It will not be exorcised without a fight.

They just don't get it Their feeble excuses for having accepted lavish gifts from donors show Labour ministers just don't understand why people are so angry over their freeloading.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson thinks it was fine to take £14,000 for two parties (one for her 40th birthday) because they were 'in a work context'.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she accepted free outfits worth £7,500 because 'I'm not massively into shopping'.

Angela Rayner claims she couldn't have become Deputy PM without financial help from donations. However, this hardly justifies taking a free holiday in a luxury New York apartment with her boyfriend.

Sir Keir himself suggests he was doing us all a favour by accepting a free VIP box for Arsenal matches rather than sitting in the stands because it saved on security costs.

He said he believed most people would think this was 'fair-dos'. As our poll showed on Saturday, they don't. They think it's shameless and unseemly sponging.

The Mail congratulates Ms Reeves on extolling the virtues of office working and coming in every day to lead by example. We will even be more impressed if she can convey this message to her Treasury civil servants, less than 40 per cent of whom turn up on any given day, according to a recent Mail investigation.