<p>The Tories were battling a 'PR disaster' thanks to an 'ill-conceived' and 'condescending' advert designed to win over the working class vote.</p><p>In what many perceived to be a patronising attempt to highlight Budget measures aimed at 'hardworking people', the advert capitalised on Osborne's announcement that beer duty would be cut by a penny and that taxes on bingo halls will be halved, from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.</p><p>An image of the advert was tweeted by Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps with the caption: 'Budget 2014 cuts bingo &amp; beer tax helping hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy. RT to spread the word.'</p><p>The reaction was instant: the hashtag #ToryBingo was born and Twitter went into meltdown.</p><p><a href="http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/19/grant-shapps-condescending-budget-tweet-sends-twitter-into-torybingo-meltdown-4659445/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/19/grant-shapps-bingo-and-beer-joke-causes-twitter-storm">Scorn for &#039;patronising&#039; beer and bingo tweet from Tory chair Grant Shapps</a> (The Guardian)</p><p><a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/budget-2014-grant-shapps-bingo-3262746">Tory party chairman Grant Shapps mocked on Twitter for &#039;ill-conceived&#039; and ...</a> (Mirror.co.uk)</p><p><a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/03/20/conservativechairman-grant-shapps-starts-twitter-firestorm-budget-beer-and-bingo">Conservative chairman Grant Shapps starts #letthemeatbingo Twitter firestorm ...</a> (The Drum)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dwY2rxR0ujJ77eM6ofzO7xVzNRpvM&authuser=0&ned=us">112 additional articles.</a></p>