Gossip from Mirror’s convention occasion – Rayner’s rooster joke and MPs on Karaoke

Jubilant Cabinet ministers and newly elected Labour MPs marked the end of the Labour Party conference with celebrations at the Mirror’s famous party.

Angela Rayner gave a passionate speech on Wednesday evening where she said it was an “absolute pleasure” to be addressing the event as “your Deputy Prime Minister”. The Labour minister, who was filling in for Keir Starmer while he is at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, said it had been an “honour” and “privilege” to form a government in July as revellers cheered in the crowd.

The party, which was co-hosted by this newspaper, iNHouse and Diageo, was attended by other high-profile ministers including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Commons Leader Lucy Powell opened the Karaoke with a rendition of Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger’ – which was later also sung by Mr Streeting and Labour Together boss Jonathan Ashworth.

In her speech, Ms Rayner stuck to the theme of not looking back when she said she’d “take a Labour government over a Tory one every single day of the week”. She savaged the legacy of the Tories, from soaring NHS waiting lists, to struggling businesses, or a record number of kids being in temporary accommodation.

But the Deputy PM was uplifting about the future ahead. At one point she looked at the iconic Mirror Chicken and described it as “definitely energised”, before adding: “We’ve got to have that energy because you know the hard yards that the Prime Minister talked about today, this isn’t about a slogan on a bus, this about the deep-rooted foundations that we will rebuild Britain together.”

But she cautioned the MPs in the room, adding: “Enjoy your evening tonight but you’re back in work tomorrow – because we’ve got a job to do and the British people deserve a Labour government that’s going to deliver for them.”