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Angela Rayner has said it has been such a blur since the general election that she has to keep checking what day it is.
In a meeting with England’s metro mayors on Tuesday, the Deputy Prime Minister said her first days in government have been so “intense” that she has lost track of time.
When Ben Houchen, the Tory mayor for Tees Valley, put to her that it must have been “a bit of a whirlwind”, Ms Rayner said: “I was saying I have to keep checking my phone what day it was. They all merge into one.”
However, she added that “it’s nice to be able to do something” after the party had been in opposition for so long.
At the same meeting, held in Downing Street on Tuesday morning, Sir Keir Starmer joked that Rachel Reeves pressed “delete” on the onshore wind farm ban in one of her first acts as Chancellor.
The Prime Minister discussed the pace at which Labour has set about tearing up Britain’s planning laws, including the “absurd” moratorium on new onshore farms introduced by the Tories.
In a meeting with the metro mayors ahead of his trip to the Nato summit in Washington, Sir Keir said: “Rachel yesterday with [the] onshore wind ban... it was just like: delete. There’s the inhibition, gone.” To laughs from the mayors, he added: “The housing targets, they’re up.”
Ms Reeves confirmed that Labour was scrapping the onshore wind ban in her first major speech as Chancellor on Monday, calling it “absurd”. The moratorium was introduced by Lord Cameron in 2015 and amounted to an effective ban because one objection could result in a turbine being turned down as part of the planning process.
The Chancellor also pledged to restore mandatory house-building targets for local authorities as part of the party’s drive to build 1.5 million homes over five years.
In video of Tuesday’s meeting with the metro mayors, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, can be heard congratulating the Prime Minister on a “strong start” in the job, adding: “You look like you’ve been here years already.”
Asked whether he had managed to fit in any sleep, Sir Keir joked that “caffeine and adrenaline” had been in his bloodstream. He said Tory rule had been all about “performance”, as opposed to Labour getting on with the job.
Pat McFadden, the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, was also in attendance at the Downing Street gathering.
Mr Houchen, the only Tory mayor in attendance, was also invited to a short meeting with the Prime Minister in advance.
Speaking to The Telegraph afterwards, he said Sir Keir had impressed on him that “he’s not interested in having political arguments for the sake of it – he wants to get stuff done”.
In the wider meeting, he said there was a “clear indication” that Labour wanted to expand devolution, with “more mayors”.
He added that there was also quite a “heavy focus” on planning reform, adding that he got the impression Sir Keir was willing to go further than he initially thought possible, given his huge majority in the Commons.
“He knows he’s desperate, he needs to go for growth,” he said. “So he needs to make these changes, otherwise the public finances blow up. So I think he’s pretty laser-focused on it.”
Tracy Brabin, the Labour mayor of West Yorkshire, said there was a “new dawn” in the relationship between England’s devolved leaders and central government, adding: “It was such an extraordinary moment, and the speed at which this meeting has been put in the diary shows the change that is at the heart of Government.”
Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London, said the meeting showed a “real statement of intent” from Sir Keir. “We’re, frankly speaking, fed up of competing against each other,” he added. “The previous government pitted different mayors against each other. That’s not going to happen with Keir Starmer.”