The parliamentary standards commissioner is looking into Angela Rayner's usage of a $2.5 million New York flat that the Labour peer Lord Alli leased her. The parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, has received a letter from the Conservatives requesting an investigation, as The Daily Dazzling Dawn can disclose. According to the Tory letter, Ms. Rayner may have violated the House of Commons rule of conduct due to her "failure to properly register" the donation of the New York apartment.

It comes after it emerged that Sam Tarry, a former Labour MP, joined Ms Rayner for parts of her stay at the flat from Dec 29 to Jan 2 but was not named in the parliamentary declaration. 

During an interview on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Rayner denied any wrongdoing, saying: “I think I followed the rules.Addressing the backlash, she added: “I get that people are frustrated, in particular the circumstances that we’re in, but donations for gifts and hospitality and monetary donations have been a feature of our politics for a very long time.According to the rules, MPs must declare foreign trips which they, or anyone connected to them, undertake if a donor pays for “part or all” of it as a result of “parliamentary or political activities”.

Ms Rayner argues that the trip was a personal holiday and denies any rule breach. Lord Alli is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Questions about the scale of donations from Lord Alli, a former TV mogul said to be worth £200 million, overshadowed day one of Labour’s conference in Liverpool.

The peer has decided to attend the conference despite a week of headlines about his hundreds of thousands of pounds of donations to the party. 

Sue Gray, the Downing Street chief of staff also in the headlines for her salary exceeding that paid to Sir Keir Starmer, has skipped the gathering. 

On Sunday, Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, on Sunday admitted receiving £14,000 from Lord Alli to help pay for events to mark her 40th birthday, but argued it was a work event.

Speaking on Sky News, she admitted some of the cash was used to pay for a 40th birthday event held in December at the Hoare Memorial Hall, a venue with views of Westminster Abbey.