They say a week is a long time in politics. For Gordon Brown today must have seemed like an eternity.
While finishing a walkabout in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the prime minister spoke to pensioner Gillian Duffy.
She pressed him on a number of issues including immigration. When Brown got back into his car forgetting he still had a wireless television microphone on him.
“That was a disaster” Brown is heard saying to an aide. “She is just a sort of bigoted woman, said she used to be Labour.”
Within a few minutes Mrs Duffy had been told what the prime minster had said. “You are joking”, was her shocked response.
The prime minister was then quizzed about the incident on Radio 2 by presenter Jeremy Vine. The affair ended with Brown visiting Mrs Duffy’s home to apologise and saying he was a “penitent sinner”.
It was the election’s busiest day but you can watch all the events as they unfolded in just a minute.