BY all accounts, Tony Blair will today announce that he has effectively postponed the General Election until June 7.

This is a typical piece of New Labour politics. Mr Blair desperately wanted May 3; he equally desperately wanted not to have to wait until October. So he found a third way - a compromise in June.

And, typically of New Labour politics, even Cabinet members found out about the decision through a leak in a newspaper.

Yet the decision to postpone is a welcome one - particularly for the countryside. It shows that Mr Blair is listening to the depth of feeling in rural areas about foot-and-mouth disease. The Northern Echo's poll ten days ago in his Sedgefield constituency, a largely rural seat, showed that. Although the people are still ultra-loyal to their Prime Minister, just over half of them said it would be wrong to hold a General Election with foot-and-mouth still in crisis.

It also shows how serious Mr Blair is about confronting the crisis. Had he called a May election, he would have found it impossible to "strain every sinew" in the fight against the disease while simultaneously being the focal point in the fight against "the forces of conservatism".

It is to be hoped that the message seeps through to his party apparatus. The country has been on an election-footing since the end of the party conference season last year, and the campaign began in earnest - although not officially - after the Budget last month. If it is allowed to drag on throughout the whole of April as well, there is a danger the country will be heartily bored of politics when the election is formally called in early May.

Mr Blair and his Government also need to fully concentrate on the crisis at hand. The only way a June 7 poll can go ahead is if the epidemic can be shown to be properly under control by the beginning of May.

By and large so far, the Conservatives have shown themselves more far-sighted in their proposals to tackle foot-and-mouth - notably in the deployment of the army, the implementation of the mass slaughter and the consideration of vaccination.

Mr Blair needs to wrestle back that advantage, and the best way to begin will be to unambiguously convince people that the countryside is now open for tourists - especially with the Easter holidays looming.

While the east coast seaside resorts were abnormally full this weekend, Wensleydale was like a ghost dale. This may give Mr Blair a glimmer of an advertising idea. Inadvertently, tourists and day-trippers have a unique chance to experience the dales as they were before the motor car was invented. This is pleasant for the visitors - but not for those who live there.