ONCE again the timing was perfect. Just days after John Major's New Year speech espousing family values, yet another married (and male) Tory backbencher was alleged by the British tabloids to have had an affair, this time with an 18-year-old man.

After the back-to-basics family values policy debacle, which ended up with one Tory junior minister admitting to fathering two illegitimate children by two different women and another acknowledging that he had entertained five mistresses, Major surely should have known better.

The enduring and well-loved institution of the Tory sex scandal has become almost as ritualised as the State Opening of Parliament.

However, as Jerry Hayes, the Tory MP for Harlow, fought to save his political career and issued a writ against the News of the World, the pundits predicted that the 1997 general election campaign would be the dirtiest yet.

As the Labour and Conservative parties attempt to put clear blue water between them, the signs are that the campaign will not be based primarily on policies, but on politicians accusing each other of hypocrisy - whether it be in their personal or public lives.

To add to Major's woes, this week Max Clifford, the man behind this latest scandal, pledged his personal vendetta against the Conservative Party.

After promising a series of revelations as part of his "crusade against hypocrisy", Clifford admitted that he had a grudge against the Tories because of their treatment of the National Health Service.

"My 25-year-old daughter Louise is disabled and I've seen her pain and anguish over 15 years caused by what the Tories have done to the health service. It is a personal vendetta.

"In a new year and in the run-up to a general election, it is important to remind the British public of the Conservative Party's real values.

"When I heard Mr Major's latest statement about the Tories being the party of the family, this made it all the more important. I want to do everything I can to show up the hypocrisy and double standards of the Conservative Party.

"There is more to come which will, in my view, make an even more damning indictment. I will be revealing between now and May other major stories which are in my possession which will show up the Conservative Party for what it really is."

Not surprisingly, Tory MPs immediately accused Clifford, a Labour supporter, of masterminding the party's dirty tricks campaign and demanded that Tony Blair distance himself from the "sleazeball's sleazeball".

"We knew this was going to be a dirty election but I don't think that is what the public were expecting from the goodly godly Mr Blair," said Roger Gale, chairman of the Tory backbench media committee.

HOWEVER, both the Labour Party and Clifford insisted there was no conspiracy involved and that he was working independently to expose political sleaze.

A Labour spokesman claimed the Tories were the ones "indulging in gutter politics". "We totally disapprove of Mr Clifford's behaviour and if he were to contact the Labour Party with regard to this sort of matter, we would send him away immediately with a very large flea in his ear," he added.

The threat of dirty tricks in British politics is nothing new. During the 1987 election campaign, it was known that Conservative Central Office had gathered a detailed dossier on the private lives of two Labour shadow ministers, including names of alleged boyfriends.

However, this was never leaked to the media because the Tories maintained their substantial lead in the opinion polls.

The situation was very different, however, during the 1992 election. Mr Major did not look like a vote winner and the opinion polls repeatedly predicted a Labour victory or, at the very least, a hung parliament.

It was decided that the Liberal Democrats leader, Paddy Ashdown, should become the target of a smear campaign. A former Tory cabinet minister rang the Sun and gave its then editor, Kelvin MacKenzie, a list of potential names, telephone numbers and addresses.

Even the Labour Party was tipped off that the Tories were planning a concerted assault on Ashdown. However, the campaign backfired to such an extent that other dirty tricks were immediately put on hold.

After papers detailing the affair with his secretary were stolen from, his solicitor's office, Ashdown admitted he had strayed but that his wife had forgiven him long ago. This enhanced his standing in the opinion polls.

Despite the "gentlemen's agreement" between the parties not to indulge in further smears, some tabloids could not resist hinting at the extent of their knowledge, making coded references to politicians' lovers.

Attempts to "out" two Tory cabinet ministers in a poster campaign by the gay rights organisation Out-Rage also failed following threats of legal action. Since the 1992 election, 16 ministers or parliamentary aides have resigned over allegations about their private or business lives.

Andrew Roth, editor of the authoritative Parliamentary Profiles, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of MPs' lives and predicts that most politicians know which of their colleagues are indulging in extra-marital affairs.

However, as the media spent this week dissecting Mr Hayes's private life, another example of political hypocrisy passed almost unnoticed. As predicted, Tony Blair has chosen to send his second son to the selective grant-maintained London Oratory, which is eight miles from the family home in Islington.

Despite the Labour Party's clear manifesto declaration that it is opposed to any form of selection, Blair is still unable to explain why, for the second time, he has ignored the numerous comprehensive schools available to his sons in his borough.

Unfortunately for the British electorate, the 1997 election campaign may be as meaningful as how many politicians have managed to keep their trousers up.