Labour faces 'bloodbath' - papers

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Many of the papers let numbers tell the story as they assess political poll ratings and the global stock markets.

The Observer says Prime Minister Gordon Brown looks set to lead Labour into an election bloodbath so crushing it could take the party a decade to recover.

The paper says eight cabinet ministers would go, along with seats held by Labour since World War I.

Labour would be extinguished in southern England and left clutching its hardcore redoubts, the paper argues.

Polls bounce

However the prime minister may find a poll for the Independent on Sunday a more palatable read over breakfast.

It says Gordon Brown's intervention in the economic crisis has given Labour a "bounce" in the polls - nearly halving the Conservatives' lead.

The Sunday Telegraph also appears to hold more hopeful news for Mr Brown.

The paper suggests the plotting is on hold and that senior ministers are signalling they do not expect an early strike against the prime minister.

Bank takeover

As far as city number-crunching is concerned, the Mail on Sunday reports on an investigation by city watchdogs into money made on HBOS shares.

The paper reports speculators made £190m profit on HBOS shares in two minutes of trading immediately before news of the bank's rescue went public.

Details of Lloyds TSB's takeover were revealed in a scoop by the BBC's Business Editor, Robert Peston.

He tells the Mail on Sunday his information was "very tightly held".

Famous faces?

The Telegraph reveals how pollsters took to the streets of Manchester and showed pictures of the current cabinet to a sample of 40 people.

Everyone picked out Gordon Brown and most Jack Straw.

But only 13 spotted David Miliband and seven went unrecognised, including John Denham who was mistaken for the lead singer of The Who, Roger Daltrey.

And one respondent said Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy had "something of the Barry Humphries about him".