Some targets were apparently devised on the back of an envelope

Some targets were apparently devised on the back of an envelope. In the NHS, they distorted priorities and encouraged cheating by pressurised staff who resented the “top-down” system.The Government claims that 87 per cent of the 366 targets set in 1998 have been achieved but this is misleading since the Government counts a target as having been met if it is only partially met and the figure only refers to the main Whitehall departments, excluding targets set for government agencies and programmes such as Surestart – a programme for young children. Meanwhile, the Tories say that the Government has met less than 50 per cent of its targets but this too is misleading. What one means by “met” and “not-met” targets is a point of argument and, as usual, the truth lies somewhere between the Government and Tory claims. The Commons Public Administration Select Committee found that 60 per cent of the 1998 targets had been achieved and that is the best independent estimate.Ministers have cut the number of targets and in recent weeks have begun to argue that what matters most are the values that lie behind the policies. For some critics, the Government is moving the goal posts because it was getting such bad results.On public services, the most important measure will be whether voters feel there has been an improvement by the next general election.

By then, it will not be easy for Mr Blair to ask for more time to finish the job, as he did in 2001. Undoubted progress on education has been set back by the school budgets crisis. There are some real improvements in the NHS, though the voracious demands on it mean that people often fail to notice them.Targets paint only a partial picture, and Mr Blair argues that the big picture has improved significantly since he was first elected. For example, the targets do not measure Labour’s management of the economy, its biggest success story.

The surprise decision by the Chancellor, Gordon Brown, to hand control of interest rates to the Bank of England helped to secure the lowest inflation, interest rates and unemployment for decades.Britain has performed better than its European Union partners. The Government’s strong economic record probably explains why the party is not doing much worse in the opinion polls, which are still relatively good for a mid-term government.But as Mr Blair overtakes Mr Attlee, Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951, economic storm clouds are gathering. Mr Brown may have to revise down his growth forecasts for a third time, leaving a “black hole” in the public finances. A difficult government-wide spending review looms next year; further tax rises may be needed to maintain the increased investment in health and education.Mr Blair’s Third Way envisages social justice as well as economic strength, and he has done less well on this side of the equation True, the minimum wage was a historic change. Despite the bleating by ungrateful trade unions, workplace rights have been enhanced.The Prime Minister is reluctant to shout about it but wealth has also been redistributed through Mr Brown’s tax and benefit reforms. At the same time, they are too complex and, as the fiasco over the child tax credit shows, have been introduced incompetently.The Prime Minister promised radical welfare reform but ended up with a salami-slicing approach.