CAN there be life for the Tone's after the latest battering over alleged "sleaze"? John Major and his colleagues obviously hope so. And the headlines of the past few days may have encouraged them to think so.
For the first time in this election the parties have collided on a major policy issue. And "New Labour" has been instantly thrown on the defensive. Supporters may complain about a classic Tory scare over the party's plans to restore the right to trade union recognition, where it is supported by more than half a workforce. But Mr Michael Heseltine's offensive was sufficiently effective to have Mr Tony Blair peddling reassurance in yesterday's Daily Mail.
Lady Thatcher is reportedly "incandescent" that Labour should contemplate reversing any of her trade union reforms, and consequently convinced that old style socialism is far from dead.
The deputy prime minister raised the spectre of renewed confrontation on the shop floor amid afresh wave of "licensed industrial blackmail".
In response to this assault, the Labour leadership started to trim. To the apparent surprise of Labour officials, the shadow chancellor, Mr Gordon Brown, suggested it could be for a third party - a judge - to arbitrate where there was a dispute between management and a workforce about the restoration of collective bargaining rights. After conflicting signals from Mr Robin Cook, Mr Brown said the judge would operate within the Central Arbitration Committee. But while Mr Blair told Mail readers that the Tories were being "hysterical" the paper noted the failed experience of ACAS back in 1980.
Taking personal charge of the damage limitation exercise, Mr Blair declared: "There will be no return to the trade union laws of the 1970s. Laws banning secondary and flying pickets, on secondary action, on ballots before strikes and for union elections - on all these essential elements of the 1980s laws - will stay. If anyone, in the trade unions or elsewhere, thinks we have transformed the Labour Party in to go back to those days, they should wake up. It won't happen."
However, Mr Blair's Thatcherite credentials will be subject to ongoing scrutiny. The Mail returned to the assault yesterday, claiming the 63 companies on the initial union "hit list" could be but the first of many: "Thousands - more firms are certain to be targeted in an escalating campaign to restore some of the muscle of organised Labour." Mr Ian Laing demanded to know how Labour would define a workforce, and what sanctions would be available? - against any employers who simply refused to recognise a union.
While the Sun can hardly be about to withdraw its endorsement of Mr Blair, the paper detected in Labour's plans "a whiff of the Bad Old Days". What, it wanted to know, would Prime Minister Blair do when faced with "social justice" proposals which the Euro TUC might wish to see incorporated in the Maastricht 2 Treaty? While Mr Blair's approach to unions appeared modern and reasonable: "What about the man who proud represented the Party of European, Socialists at a summit with the ETUC ... John Prescott? Old Brothers never die."
Old Brother Prescott may have cause for concern. For the "New Labour" leadership, of which he appears such an unlikely component, will surely want to go the extra mile to reassure its new found ally. The CBI, meanwhile, has accused Labour of being "underhand" for suggesting the employers organisation had been involved in preparing the party's manifesto for industry. And the Tories haven't yet got into their stride on the questions of the Social Chapter, the minimum wage, tax, or the contradictions between Mr Blair's Euroscepticism and his promise to end Britain's isolation in Europe.
Barring another calamity, next week's manifesto launches could herald the beginning of the real policy debate and some testing times at least for Mr Blair.
However, no prudent Tory, would ever rule out another calamity. Former leadership challenge, John Redwood was busy, yesterday signing copies of his book against the European Single Currency, in open defiance of party managers. An estimated 150 Tory MPs and prospective candidates seem set to flaunt their Euroscepticism in defiance of the cabinet's "wait and see" line. The opinion polls suggest wholesale - defection by former Tory voters in Middle England, as the "time for a change" argument gains potency. And alongside yesterday's reprieve came indications that the controversy over the "cash for questions" affair was still rumbling just below the surface.
It erupted afresh last night, as Mr Tim Smith - the former Northern Ireland minister who had admitted accepting up to £25,000 sterling in cash payments - from the Harrod's owner Mohammed Al Fayed - announced his decision to stand down.
The signals have been that the Guardian is not planning any further disclosures. But Tory MPs are decidedly nervous, and fear there may indeed be more to come. In any event, the party's failure to act against two former ministers in particular, was always likely to prove a running sore.
Last Friday night, Mr Neil Hamilton and Mr Smith received the backing of their constituency parties. Mr Heseltine felt obliged to say he would campaign for them on the basis that people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. But senior Tories, in Beaconsfield had second thoughts and were last night beginning the search for a replacement for Mr Smith. The immediate effect was to turn the spotlight back on the former trade minister Mr Hamilton, and renew criticism of Mr Major's handling of the issue.
And the criticism wasn't just forthcoming from Labour and the Liberal Democrats. "The whole perception is of declaration and tax avoidance," said one Tory MP, exasperated in Mr Major's dismissal of the original Guardian story as "junk". Before last night's announcement, this MP fancied Mr Major might be about the style of leadership which might finally act: "If he [Major] realises it's sticking to him, he's capable of anything. But it's just typical. He always comes up from the rear, he never leads from the front." A view echoed by Mr Paddy Ashdown, who said Mr Smith was "the first casualty" of Mr Major's indecision and ineptitude. Even Mr Major's good days come laced with black clouds.