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However, according to most media reports, he in fact spent most of his time worrying about election dates. Today, he is widely expected to move the local elections due on May 3 to June 7 - a date also widely tipped for the general election.
In the meantime, farmers throughout the country await a decision on vaccination, a move, it is reported, that is much favoured by Prince Charles who is deeply concerned about the deepening crisis - his Prince's Trust charity has already given £500,000 to help farmers in distress.
Both politicians and some newspapers are accusing Mr Blair of "dithering" and there are also suggestions that, should he win re-election, he will make major changes in the way MAFF is run - it could even be scrapped in its present form.
Other developments include:
- The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, from Hull, managed to annoy farmers even more over the weekend by saying that the fixing of a general election date was a decision for the Prime Minister alone - "not for the Tories and certainly not for the damn farmers."
- Sport took another battering. The re-arranged Cheltenham Gold Cup horse racing meeting was cancelled after a new outbreak five miles from the track and the Irish rugby union team postponed its Six Nations matches until September, leaving other teams in suspense for the summer: Ireland is the only nation that can seriously challenge England for the Grand Slam.
- The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rt. Rev John Packer, attended a service in Hawes, where there hundreds of cattle and sheep have been slaughtered in six outbreaks near the town.
- In the Lake District, an appeal has been set up to save the unique Herdwick breed of sheep. The Herdwick has been bred over the centuries to survive the harsh conditions on the high fells. Breeders fear that, if a mass cull of healthy sheep is ordered, the breed will become extinct.