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Campaign analysis: Friday April 8
Daniel Forman's daily diary of the election campaign.
Friday April 8 11:00am GMT
There's only one story today in politics and no, it's not the Pope's funeral. With all three main party leaders in attendance that will have little effect on the polls.
The collapse of MG Rover however, which ministers have worked hard to avoid or at least postpone until after the election, is threatening to become the first unscheduled campaign issue.
With a bizarre row breaking out on Thursday night as to who had actually called the receivers in and whether or not the government had made a £100m bridging loan available, Labour looked neither like the friend of big business nor a clear and decisive leader in Friday morning's headlines.
The party will hope that the combination of the Vatican funeral and tomorrow's royal wedding will ease the story out of the spotlight by the time campaigning is taken up in full again on Monday.
It has also worked hard to ensure that it does not cause a rift with its key union backers, with industry secretary Patricia Hewitt appearing alongside TGWU leader Tony Woodley at the crucial Thursday night press conference and the two sticking to a "government has done all it can, now we must help the workers" line.
The TGWU wants Labour to get as big a majority as possible, especially with its favourite son Gordon Brown set to inherit the throne, and for now can be expected to remain loyal.
But the West Midlands was already set to be a big battleground with plenty of Labour-Tory contests, and the Conservatives will seek to make the most of the government's Rover difficulties.
It has the potential to pierce a hole in Labour's strongest card - the economy. While the economy may be booming on the back of house price growth, the service sector and consumer spending there is no question that manufacturing has struggled since 1997.
The key issue is whether the Conservatives have any more credible alternative. And whether the Rover row will still be in the headlines by this time next week.
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