"YES it hurt. Yes it worked." Such is the two-sentence slogan of the trailing Tories' fight-back campaign.

Reminding voters of the pain inflicted upon them - high taxes, job losses, negative equity and so on - is an amazingly high-risk strategy. For it will only pay off, if as the Conservatives evidently hope, people consider themselves to be better off as a result.

Lots of factors may be in place to suggest that they should - cheap mortgages, low inflation, rising employment, etc. But are we really happier?

The general answer casts doubt on the wisdom of this apologetic advertising ploy.

But with some economy-watchers already seeing the first signs of a new recession in the offing, the Tories could be hit by a total backfire.

While times might actually be better now - though voters aren't as sure - if they plunge into downturn, then this tactic will turn into a double whammy..M-3

"Yes it hurt. No it didn't work."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.