Recent manufacturing history in Britain is a tale of two phoenix. One, Phoenix Venture Holdings, is MG Rover's former parent. The other is the manufacturing sector itself, a much healthier bird that has demonstrated the true phoenix properties of self-renewal.

For more than 30 years I have worked around the world turning round large-scale manufacturing operations. Visiting Longbridge during that time, I gained an insight into the causes of its decline. Inept management, a lack of technical competence, insufficient capital and a lack of understanding of global industry dynamics all contributed to a failure to develop successful new products. Thankfully Rover is not representative. In 2004, the UK produced 1.65m cars, an increase of 750,000 a year more than in 1982; commercial vehicle production at 209,000 was the highest since 1999.