Just a year ago Tony Blair killed off a hugely-popular backbench move to ban fox hunting, claiming it could have derailed the rest of his parliamentary programme.

The government had far more important things on its plate like health, education and most importantly reform of the House of Lords.

Tony Blair now backs a ban

The upper house would have used the fox hunting legislation to derail the reform proposals and other government legislation, it was argued.

And ministers signalled that there was no way the government was about to produce its own legislation on the matter.

Most MPs dismissed all the explanations and believed the decision had far more to do with the massive opposition the proposal had sparked amongst the powerful countryside lobby, which marched on London in protest.

Now, not only is Tony Blair fully behind such a ban, but it is likely to be rushed before MPs within the next three weeks.

The first sign anyone got that the measure was back on the agenda was when the prime minister told BBC's Question Time that he intended to see a ban on fox hunting.

But he gave no indication of when it might happen.

Then, the following morning, Downing Street announced the Home Office was likely to draw up legislation to put before MPs before the Commons rises for its summer recess.

The government will take on the countryside lobby

It came as a huge surprise to MPs who immediately started speculation over what had happened in the last year to change the prime minister's mind.

Most believe the answer is simple - he lost a couple of elections and is desperately searching for populist policies to "re-engage" with Labour voters.

The local council and European election losses proved a severe blow to Mr Blair and he is eager to get back onto the offensive.

In a sense he wants to get back to basics - which means fulfilling Labour's manifesto commitments.

But on this issue he has gone even further than the manifesto which only promised to allow a free vote on the issue.

And the speed of the announcement has led some to believe it smacks of desperation.

One thing is certain, after taking on the doctors, Tony Blair is now ready to take on the countryside lobby.