Angela Rayner joked Kemi Badenoch is doing “side deals with the Daleks” as she mocked the Conservative leadership hopeful’s row with Doctor Who star David Tennant.

Deputy Prime Minister Ms Rayner said next week’s Conservative Party conference will involve “10-minute auditions for wannabe leaders, beating each other to different shades of blue” following their general election defeat.

Ms Rayner said “no-one is watching” the Tories, before questioning whether this was why Ms Badenoch, the shadow housing secretary, used her leadership campaign launch to say she is someone “who’s not afraid of Doctor Who”.

In June, former Doctor Who actor David Tennant used an acceptance speech at the British LGBT Awards to say of the then-equalities minister: “Until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist any more – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this.”

Ms Badenoch, who has faced criticism over her approach to trans rights, replied by saying she was “never going to shut up” about the “divisive agenda of diversity politics”.

Labour’s Ms Rayner, speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool on Sunday, said: “The Tories failed Britain and they tried to cover it up.

“A crater in the heart of Britain’s economy. A puncture in the pocket of every working family. And a £22 billion black hole.

“And not so much as an apology, let alone an acceptance, from the Tories.

“Instead, next week they will gather in the wreckage of their defeat. Reduced to 10-minute auditions for wannabe leaders, beating each other to different shades of blue. On a show that no-one is watching.

“Perhaps that’s why Kemi launched her leadership campaign with an attack on Doctor Who.”

In a nod to the enemy of Doctor Who, Ms Rayner said: “It was bad enough when they wanted to deal with (Reform UK leader Nigel) Farage = now she’s doing side deals with the Daleks.

“At least after three months as shadow housing secretary, she finally expressed concern about a tenant. It’s just a pity it was David Tennant.

“It’s easy to forget they had five leadership candidates. Not exactly the famous five.

“They have left us to clear up their mess, and I’m not just talking about the wallpaper in Number 10.

“The Tories have left us facing tough choices. And even tougher ones face families across Britain, struggling to make ends meet.”

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden said Labour has an “ambition to lead the country through this world of change and the enormous possibilities that it brings”.

He said: “That’s the difference between another five years of opposition.

“Five years of nothing but clicks and likes and lamenting what the Government is doing, and five years in power.

“Five years in which we can do and not just talk.

“And when we look today at the Tory leadership election, where is their hunger for change? Where is their humility to learn from their defeat? Plenty of contenders, but not a change candidate among them.

“Never again should we let the Tories drag our country down or hold our people back.

“Being honest about what the Tories left us with, about the damage they did to our country, that’s not gloom – it’s serious, and it’s time we got serious about the governance and the future of the country.”