THIS week has witnessed a subtle change in British political jargon. The economic recovery has notoriously failed to reflect any significant or sustained improvement in the standing of Mr Major's government.
The IMF recently declared Britain's economic indicators `enviable'. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Kenneth Clarke, proclaims "the brightest economic prospects for a generation."
Consumer spending is up, while unemployment continues generally downward. Wednesday's pre-emptive rise in interest rates has fuelled Tory hopes for a tax-cutting budget.
The economy is set to grow by more than 3 per cent next year. And there are recurring rumours of at least a `mini-boom' in the housing market. For all that, the "feelgood factor" has remained doggedly elusive. However there are signs that the British public is at least beginning to "feel better".
With a general election barely six months away, the Tories will gladly have that to be going on with. But the pressure is on Mr Clarke to secure the shift, and translate it into an election-winning formula. Yesterday's headlines provide no clear or compelling evidence that he can.
A report from economic consultants Business Strategies showed consumer optimism about the economy and household finances at its highest level since before the recession. Receding worries about unemployment and expectations of continuing low inflation explained the apparent surge in confidence. In the electorally crucial London and the south-east, the expectation of improving personal fortunes was particularly marked.
The Tory press cheerfully interpreted the modest rise in interest rates as increasing Mr Clarke's scope for tax cuts. But the move to 6 per cent left financial institutions anticipating further increases in the run-up to the election - with the building societies adopting a wait-and-see approach to the implications for mortgages.
While Labour said the move was the inevitable consequence of the government's failure to tackle "fundamental weaknesses" in the economy, the British Chamber of Commerce warned it could "snuff out the very recent recovery in manufacturing". Mr Adam Cole, of City brokers James Capel, feared the "tax giveaway" in the budget would now be more generous than anticipated "further skewing growth in the direction of consumer spending".
The FianciaI Times, meanwhile, awarded Mr Clarke "two cheers" for the interest rate rise - while warning that only "an extremely frugal" budget would win him a third.
With consumer spending and the pound on the rise, the paper argued that the combination of a modestly restrictive monetary policy and continued loose fiscal policy was the opposite of what the economy required. Recognising that this is precisely what investors and the Conservative Party want, the paper said: "Mr Clarke must prove them wrong."
Assessing the reliability of the recovery, and the reality behind the options open to the Chancellor, plainly tests the experts.
To the ordinary layman it is truly bewildering. Hoping for a tax cut, he hears one of the Chancellor's "wise men" say he should instead be raising taxes by some £3 billion sterling.
Desperate for an improvement in the values of their homes, people note the expert advice that those who can afford it should still opt for fixed mortgages. And they know instinctively that if rates fall before an election, they almost inevitably rise after.
The slump in Britain's housing market has been central to Mr Major's difficulties - and belief in its recovery is plainly essential to any developing "feel better" factor. Yet nowhere are the assessments, forecasts and projections more confusing.
In the 1980s. smart dinner parties were invariably dominated by accounts of financial killings on house sales. And recent reports have suggested that 1990s anxieties about "the school fees" might soon he relieved by the joyous news of another property boom.
One such report revealed that some areas of London, such as Wandsworth, were not merely recovering from their recessionary lows - but actually moving up a division in the property league, making homeowners a few hundred thousand pounds richer in the space of just a couple of years. However, for the bulk of home-owners the reality appears to be that the recent "mini boom" is confined to very good housing stock and locations, and that the prospect of hefty profits does not apply across the board.
For the home-owner at least, then, the good times haven't yet arrived. Which is profoundly worrying for messrs Major and Clarke.
Some, doubtless, will continue to hope for a lottery win and refuse to shift their allegiance. Others might just be praying for a dollop of inflation following the election of a Labour government!
