Credit crunch, what credit crunch? The cabinet’s golden couple, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, have been leading a 30-strong party of senior Labour figures singing the night away at a City karaoke bar.

The hits they belted out at the recession-defying knees-up included Shirley Bassey’s Big Spender — perhaps in tribute to Gordon Brown’s ability to splash out £2.7 billion of taxpayers’ money to save his skin from the 10p tax rebels.

Balls and Cooper performed a duet of Endless Love, the ballad once recorded by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey.

Last Wednesday’s choice of venue, Karaoke Box Smithfield, may surprise voters struggling with soaring mortgages and increased household bills.

The bar, near the famous meat market in the City of London, is a favourite with local financiers and charges £150 for room hire, £200 for a bottle of Cristal champagne and up to £8.50 for exotic cocktails.

Along with Balls, the schools secretary, and Cooper, his wife and chief secretary to the Treasury, other revellers included Ian Austin and Angela Smith, Brown’s chief parliamentary aides. Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, was also there, although it is understood he did not perform.

The occasion was the hen night of Lyn Brown, 48, MP for West Ham, although — as befits the party of equal opportunities — men were also welcome.

Bar staff recall a gaggle of suit-wearing MPs piling into the basement club at around 10.30pm. Some performers recall not leaving until the early hours.

The night out followed Labour’s 48 hours of economic emergency repairs. On Tuesday Alistair Darling announced his U-turn to cushion the low-paid from the 10p tax debacle. The following day Brown delivered a draft Queen’s speech containing legislation designed to prevent a repeat of the Northern Rock failure.

For such a tribal gathering as the one last Wednesday, it was unsurprising that the MPs began with a rendition of D:Ream’s Things Can Only Get Better — the anthem for new Labour’s 1997 election campaign.

The highlight, a version of Big Spender, was led by Chris Bryant, a parliamentary aide to Harriet Harman, the Labour deputy leader. Bryant, a former Anglican curate, is helping to officiate at Lyn Brown’s wedding in the Commons Undercroft chapel.

Additional reporting: Anna Mikhailova

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