The ad, created by TBWA\London, reads "The day the Tory sums add up", and shows party leader Howard and shadow chancellor Letwin, who are both Jewish, with their faces superimposed on the bodies of winged pigs. It uses the strapline that has already appeared on Labour's general election advertising: "Britain is working. Don't let the Tories wreck it again".
The Independent reports accusations that the ad is tasteless. The timing has also been criticised, as it appeared the day after Holocaust Memorial Day as world leaders gathered at the site of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Poland.
The report quotes the Tory candidate for Finchley and Golders Green, Andrew Mennear, saying: "I am shocked the Labour Party finds it remotely clever or amusing to impose the faces of probably the two highest-profile Jewish politicians on to flying pigs."
Labour hit back at the claims, saying that the ad had appeared in a members-only area of the Labour website for the past 10 days, with people encouraged to give feedback on it, and other ads.
"It's not anti-Jewish, it's anti-Tory, and it makes a serious point about the Tories' spending claims," a spokesperson said. The party said it had not received any complaints about the ad.
The ad comes in response to claims by the Conservatives that it has identified £35bn in budget cuts.
±±¾©Èü³µpk10 magazine reported this week that there had been a bust up at Tory headquarters over the advertising strategy for the coming election. The debate is between focusing on marginal seats, using direct mail and telephone canvassing, versus a nationwide poster campaign.
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