The Labour Party conference begins in Liverpool today and on the face of it, it’s going to be very different to the last one. A year ago, Andy Burnham was persona non grata. Ministers took turns sneering at the King of the North’s ambitions to become PM, while pledging their loyalty to Sir Keir Starmer. You won’t find many Starmer loyalists today, although one or two will be drifting about, muttering old mantras about “difficult decisions”. But behind the smiles, frustrations are growing and knives are being sharpened.

No prizes for guessing who’s first to wield hers. It had to be Angela Rayner, didn’t it? Probably the last thing Burnham needed right now was for Red Ange to take on the most toxic subject of the lot: immigration. And use it to shaft a senior member of his cabinet – Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Rayner attacked Mahmood’s migrant crackdown right on the eve of conference, despite knowing exactly what a fuss it would cause. She repeated her criticism of plans to make foreign care workers wait 15 years for permanent residence, saying Labour had “changed the goalposts”.

It’s not the first time she’s lunged for Mahmood. Rayner knows she has plenty of support, which only makes it worse. More than 100 Labour MPs have opposed Mahmood’s reforms, while trade unions are also campaigning against them. Unison is holding a migrant care worker rally in Liverpool on Monday. Lucky Mahmood.

I admire Mahmood, a minister who rolls up her sleeves and cracks on, running the hardest Whitehall department of the lot. She’s the only one who stuck to her job in a sea of incompetence that was the Starmer regime. She doesn’t indulge in political posturing, unlike our firebrand Housing Secretary.

Many will sympathise with Rayner’s complaint that it’s unfair to recruit care workers from overseas, then tighten settlement rules later. But this is a tough area, and Mahmood has to make tough decisions. She doesn’t deserve to have Rayner exploit the issue to milk applause from the left.

It’s the last thing Andy Burnham needs as well. He’s shied away from toxic issues like this one, hoping to treat the nation to some feel-good political fun. Then up steps Rayner at the worst possible time.

When it comes to stepping on the toes of other cabinet ministers, Rayner has form. Remember how she handed a list of tax demands to former chancellor Rachel Reeves? While doing incoherent things with her own tax return. Knows no shame, our Ange. And she won’t be the only Labour delegate involved in a bit of red-on-red brutality in Liverpool.

Starmer’s former business secretary Peter Kyle is arguing for a more vigorous approach to wealth creation. That won’t win friends on the backbenches. They only want to tax wealth, not generate it.

Starmer’s former chief secretary Darren Jones, the man who pointed out that Burnham’s plan to cut VAT on electricity bills wasn’t properly funded, may also be willing to speak a bit of truth to the new power.

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has even argued that the EU isn’t the answer to all Britain’s problems, which will have delegates blocking their ears. Then there’ll be the usual rabble of leftie activists, ranting on about Gaza, demanding Burnham nationalises the water companies, berating North Sea drilling and, of course, having a pop at Mahmood.

Plus there’ll be some real crackpots who are still furious that Burnham didn’t make Ed Miliband chancellor and destroy British capitalism for good. Instead, they’ve got boring old John Healey, banging on about sticking to fiscal rules. None of the faithful flocking to Liverpool wants to hear that. Meet the new Labour Party, increasingly similar to the old one. Angela Rayner hasn’t changed her spots at all.