Analysis: Strike crisis is stuff of nightmares for party's worried strategists

LORD Adonis's sudden emergence from the bunker which most ministers are now hiding in can only be seen as a recognition of the potential catastrophe a British Airways strike will cause Labour at the polls.

Senior ministers from the Prime Minister downwards have in recent weeks made great play of the Lord Ashcroft saga and the failure of the Tories' biggest donor to pay more than 100 million of tax in the last decade.

While this tactic has been effective in helping raise question marks over Conservative funding of key battles in marginal constituencies, which is where the Ashcroft millions are used, it has put the issue of party funding back at the top of the political agenda.

So what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. And Labour's own Ashcroft is the Unite union, which has provided 11m of funding for the party since mid-2007 when Gordon Brown became leader.

With this in mind the thought of thousands of people losing out on their flights and holidays because of the union that bankrolls Labour just days before the Prime Minister is expected to set the date of an election is the stuff of nightmares for party strategists.

So Mr Brown yesterday had no choice but to send out his Transport Secretary to at least be seen to do something.