Late, late calling

The perils of election campaigns were illustrated this week by none other than Lord Saatchi. He told a lunch for Forward Publishing in Dublin on Thursday that in 1951, the Tories created a new advertising theme. Posters and flyers were produced showing a fresh-faced young man leaping out of bed with the caption "Get up and go with the Conservatives". The posters were already winging their way to locations throughout Britain when a sharp ad man spotted a potential disaster. The alarm clock on the bedside table read 10.15 a.m.