Here’s a spinny article from Nick Cohen written in 1995 at the tail end of the last Conservative Government, when Brian Mawhinney was MP for Peterborough and featuring the ET headline: “Boy saves turkey from oven by buying the bird with his pocket money”. Here is one of the more timely quotes:
“No one’s spending any money,” complained Robbie, barman at the Lion in the city centre. “Trade has been so slow the boss is not even going to get his bonus from the brewery.”