Sir Keir Starmer has launched a battle against accusations that his government is embroiled in "sleaze, nepotism and greed", with an announcement that the rules for declaring donations and gifts will be changed.
The Prime Minister and a string of ministers have been criticized for accepting thousands of pounds in freebies from corporate sponsors and millionaire donors, with the scandal hitting the party at the polls.
In a bid to get the government back on track, Pat McFadden, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who heads the Cabinet Office - Whitehall's 'engine room' - announced that the rules for ministers will be tightened.
He claimed the current rules were a 'Tory loophole' designed to protect previous Conservative ministers. The move came as:
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Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield left Labor accusing Sir Keir of presiding over "sleaze, nepotism and apparent greed", and followed up by claiming the Prime Minister "has a woman problem"
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Mr McFadden dismissed £16,000 in donations for Sir Keir's clothes and £32,000 for ministers and their spouses for clothes as 'campaign costs'.
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Loyalist Labor MPs launched what appeared to be a coordinated attack on "the right-wing conspiracy" against Sir Keir
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The Tories opened their conference in Birmingham as senior figures within the party expressed 'deep concern' that the party is failing to provide meaningful opposition.
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A row broke out between Tory leadership hopefuls over comments Kemi Badenoch made about "excessive" maternity benefits
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Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went into hiding and only gave a private speech to a select group of Tory members
Mr McFadden said that under current guidance, details of hospitality received by ministers in their ministerial capacity are published by departments, but these are only released quarterly and their value is not included - contrary to the interests of MPs , which are indicated biweekly and include estimated costs. .
Speaking about the new changes, Mr McFadden said: "We will make it clear in the ministerial code in future that both ministers and shadow ministers should be subject to the same declaration rules.
"This was a Tory loophole, put in place so that you could have an event where the Tory minister ... was present, the Labor shadow counterpart would be there too, and the Tory minister didn't have to make a statement.
"That was the Tory rule. We don't think that is fair, so we will close that loophole so that ministers and shadow ministers are treated the same way in the future."
Transparency International UK welcomed the government's proposal to change the rules.
Speaking on behalf of the campaign group, Rose Whiffen said: "We welcome this move to end the two-tier system which has led to ministers, those closest to power, being able to provide less information about their hospitality and doing so less frequently can provide than their backbench colleagues.
"In addition, to demonstrate his commitment to improving trust, the Prime Minister should issue his ministerial code with promised changes to also strengthen the role of the independent adviser."
Sir Keir was criticized after it emerged he had personally accepted more than £100,000 in gifts.
Ms Duffield announced her decision to leave the Labor Party in an open letter to the Prime Minister this weekend.
She wrote: "Someone of well-above-average wealth who chooses to maintain the Conservatives' two-child limit on benefits, entrenching children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts such as designer suits and glasses that cost more cost than most of those people. can understand - this absolutely does not deserve to carry the title of Labor Prime Minister."
Ms Duffield, whose relations with Labor have been strained due to her views on transgender issues, then criticized Sir Keir's management of the party, saying he had "never had regular contact" with backstabbing MPs and that he lacked "fundamental political and political skills". political instincts".
She added: "The filth, the nepotism and the apparent greed are outrageous. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party.
Her letter said she planned to stand as an independent MP and be "guided by my core Labor values".
But Labor MPs and colleagues launched a backlash on social media to defend the embattled prime minister.
Siobhain McDonagh, Labor MP for Mitcham and Morden, posted an article from The independent 's John Rentoul, adding: "The hunt for Keir Starmer is exactly what the right-wing media wants | The independent - 100%. Thank you."
Former deputy leader Tom Watson responded: "I agree."
A number of party figures have also made it clear they are not angry about Ms Duffield's departure, highlighting the fact she had abstained in the recent winter fuel vote.
Meanwhile, as the Tory conference gets underway in Birmingham, leading Conservative figures have confided that they believe the four-month leadership battle, which continues with the final four candidates, means the party is "providing no meaningful opposition" .
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is still the leader of the party, does not even make a public speech at the conference; instead, he will address only a select group of members of the National Conservative Convention.
A former senior minister questioned whether Labour's transparency plans make any sense at all.
Former Tory minister Sir Jake Berry has dismissed Mr McFadden's claims, saying many of the gifts of clothes, designer glasses, the use of luxury apartments and tickets to events such as Taylor Swift concerts do not fall under the ministerial exemption .
He told it The independent: "This is really a smokescreen. We would have had to announce almost all of these gifts in our role as MPs when we were ministers. There was no exemption.
"It is interesting that the donors, like Lord Alli, could have made a general campaign cash donation to the party for things like clothing, which could then have been spent on clothing or whatever. Instead, he chose to make personal donations to individuals because he clearly wanted them to know he was making the donation."
