NEW Labour made good its threat to make this the first high-tech election - but the jury is out on whether the tactic worked.

Millbank was confident a sizeable chunk of first-time voters preferred Tony Blair to his rivals.

But they doubted whether the 18 to 24-year-olds would bother to turn up at the polling booth.

So they bombarded them with text messages to create some enthusiasm for the cause.

The result was truly bewildering. It read: "d:*O WUCIWUG #:-O VTE LBR 2MORO".

As youngsters stared blankly at their mobile phones, Labour was forced to explain what the hell it was banging on about.

Apparently, the first four characters are a sideways view of William Hague wearing a baseball cap.

The asterisk, to those in the know, represents a nose, while the 0 symbolises a big mouth. WUCIWUG means "what you see is what you get", while the #:-0 means Oh No.

In short, William Hague once wore a baseball cap so don't vote for him - vote for the smiley Mr Blair.

Wouldn't it have been easier - and more effective - to just send that text message instead?

Britain awaits the final breakdown of the turnout figures with interest.