Posters: Brown's comeback takes second place to car crash

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The crash happened as the Prime Minister gathered the most senior members of his Cabinet in a Birmingham car park to unveil a new set of Labour posters.

Mr Brown was left talking to just a handful of journalists as most of the attending media rushed to the scene at Hockley Circus in Birmingham.

The chaotic events came after the Prime Minister's disastrous comments about Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy on Wednesday, when he was overheard calling her "bigoted".

Mr Brown last night insisted he used the description because he thought she had called for all foreign students to be kicked out of Britain.

The Prime Minister offered the explanation for his blunder as he put himself through a grilling at the hands of the BBC's interrogator, Jeremy Paxman.

Challenged by Mr Paxman over how her words could have been misconstrued, the Premier replied: "I thought she was talking about expelling all university students from this country who were foreigners."

He went on: "People say things in the heat of the moment when you get angry and you have got to apologise for that."

In sometimes bad-tempered exchanges, the premier was quizzed on subjects ranging from the expenses scandal to the international financial crisis, and why people did not like him.

Challenged to give a yes or no answer as to whether VAT would go up in the wake of a Labour victory, Mr Brown said bluntly: "It's a no, because it is not in our deficit reduction plan."

Earlier in the day, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson stonily rejected the suggestion from one broadcaster that the car crash incident represented a metaphor for Labour's campaign.

The driver of the car, 27-year-old Labour voter Omed Rashid, escaped uninjured.