A CONSERVATIVE Party poster depicting the Labour Leader, Mr Tony Blair, with demonic red eyes, was denounced yesterday by a Tory backbencher, writes Rachel Borrill.
Sir Teddy Taylor, a leading Euro sceptic, warned Tory chiefs they were "making a mistake" by concentrating on attacking Mr Blair and said the party should concentrate on its own problems.
"What people are voting Labour or Liberal for is because they want to kick the government in the guts. There is no point in seeking to persuade people that Labour's not very good, because they already think that. What we've got to do is try and sort out own problems," he argued.
The poster, which was designed at the instigation of the Tory party chairman, Dr Brian Mawhinney, was in response to the comments last week by Labour MP Ms Clare Short. She described Mr Blair's advisers as "dark forces".
Mr Peter Mandelson, Labour's election strategist, accused the Conservatives of trying to buy victory at the general election with the largest negative advertising campaign in British political history.
"Tony Blair is a practising Christian and by any standard, a man of decency and integrity. Whatever you think of his political views, to portray him as the devil is a crass, clumsy move," he said.
However, the Defence Secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, defended the poster. "We have applied the symbol of the red eyes, which stand for danger, to Tony Blair in order to make the point that behind the smiles and the soundbites there are policies which are deeply dangerous to our country," he said. "Clare Short gave us the opportunity to show that the people who know Tony Blair the best are those who trust him the least," he said.