Angela Rayner has recommended a “lethal” cocktail called Venom that led to a fellow politician sleeping in a dog basket after she served it at a barbecue.

Appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe, the deputy Labour leader also revealed she was addicted to vaping, shied away from vegetarian food, and took little exercise.

She said: “I enjoy a good vape. I’m never without them. I have one and then a back-up. The kids call me the vape dragon.”

The 43-year-old Mancunian admitted some of her behaviour would probably catch up with her in later life.

Earlier this week, the Daily Mirror reported Ms Rayner had been raving from four in the afternoon to 5am on a recent holiday in Spain to her favourite club anthems.

Talking to comedian Matt Forde for his Political Party podcast at Underbelly Bristo Square, the Ashton-under-Lyne MP also described a lively barbecue at her home.

She said: “I do a cocktail called Venom. I don’t know if any of you have had it but it’s lethal.

“I invited my youngest kid’s teacher from primary school, he came and had to take his wife home because she’d had some Venom.”

Asked what was in it, she said: “Venom, it’s a bottle of vodka - Absolut I prefer - a bottle of Southern Comfort, ten bottles of Blue WKD and a litre of pure orange juice.  

“And honestly, if you’re ever having a barbecue at home, get that out, everyone will have a good time.

“One of my local councillors, I found her curled up in the dog’s bed with the dog after Venom, had to get her home. It’s really tasty, it’s really, really nice. It’s like an alcopop.”

She said she also tasked another local councillor with cooking the food at her barbecue, as a person who was “hammered” might carelessly give people food poisoning.

Talking more generally about her diet, she said she automatically turned to the meat option on menus and was a fan of cheap meat paste in jars, both childhood traits.

She also revealed she smoked as a teenager then quit for decades, but took it up again in lockdown during the pandemic, before switching to vaping to stop smoking.

She said: “I don’t smoke anymore, I vape. But my kids are really angry about me vaping and they say I should give up on vaping, 

“But it’s actually more addictive, vaping, because you get all the goodness without the badness and you don’t really know it’s wrecking you, which it probably is, because nothing that feels that nice is good for you, is it?

“It’s like white bread and fried foods. You know it’s not good for you but it tastes good.

“Vaping is probably really bad for you and I’ll find out one day, but yeah I enjoy a good vape.”

“I’ve got two of them literally in my pocket. I’m never without them. I have one and then a back-up. The kids call me the vape dragon.”

She added: “Don’t start because it’s really addictive compared to smoking. I do menthol.

“I love a good menthol vape. These other ones, those sweety ones, they’re too sickly. It’s like eating a full cake. You know these flavoured things?

"I think you should get rid of them. They should definitely go. They’re too sweet. They’re just literally asking kids to start.

“Honestly, I think vaping is probably going to come out as a very bad thing for you.

“Obviously, it gets people off cigarettes and that’s good, but I don’t think I would be pushing… vapes at all.”

She said later she was not advocating either smoking or vaping.