Tony Blair has now become the longest serving Labour Party Prime Minister. His administration has outlasted the immediately post-war Government, led by Clement Attlee.

We are so used to the Labour Party being either in Government or opposition, that we tend to forget that, by the standards of British democracy, it is a relatively recent creation, not much more than 100 years old.

The layout of the House of Commons has always promoted a two-party system. On the floor of the House are two lines over which MPs are not allowed to step during debate.

The lines are more than two sword-lengths apart to prevent MPs from duelling. These days it does not seem likely and conjures up remarkable images. It may be an easier way of settling some matters.

What have been the achievements of this administration? They came into office promising remarkably little. They did not have to. The nation was fed up with the previous incumbents and wanted a change as Tony Blair's majority indicated.

From the point of view of the countryside and farming the prospect was difficult to assess. The industry was hardly recovered from the immediate effects of the mad cow disease crisis. Many of the systems put in place to prevent transmission of that dreadful disease to humans are still in operation. Since the beginning of the crisis no animals more than 30 months old have entered the food chain.

Now that incidents of sick animals have declined dramatically, there is discussion of the relaxation of that restriction.

Few farmers thought the Common Agricultural Policy was sustainable in the long term. The incoming Government certainly did not. Reform has proved much more difficult than any of them thought.

On the Continent the removal of the grain mountains and wine lakes is taken as meaning the system is working. If farmers' incomes are sustained as a side-effect, then so much the better.

Suddenly, as a result of the landslide, there were more Labour MPs for rural areas than ever. Some sat uncomfort-ably with their constituents, but many quickly settled into the role of representative of country interests.

Not many can bring themselves to carry that representation into opposition to the whips' instructions, but work behind the scenes can be very useful.

The major area in which farming has been hindered during the past few years is in the avalanche of red tape coming from Whitehall and Westminster. Most farmers and other small businesses, rural and urban, now spend significant amounts of their time filling in forms.

So do teachers and doctors, as we are constantly told. It is fair to assume that the nation has huge extra administration with which to deal. Boxes must be ticked and summaries prepared. Because this takes time, it costs money. It is a mind-set.

If targets can be set, however obscure and pointless, and forms filled to prove those targets are met, then departments have justified their existence.

The major change since Labour took over has been in tax. They came in on a promise not to increase tax, and, so far as income tax is concerned, they have fulfilled that promise. But just about every other tax has risen.

The cynical increase in National Insurance - a tax by another name - was only the latest.

It is time some of the promised improvements in service, for which we have already paid, are delivered.

Updated: 10:59 Tuesday, August 05, 2003