This article looks at the evidence concerning performance and progress in the primary school over the lifetime of New Labour's tenure in government since 1997. It examines the claims made by New Labour that the Literacy and Numeracy Strategies have been an outstanding success and have changed the ways that teachers teach. On the evidence of the author's own research and that of other independent researchers this claim appears contentious. Attainment targets are still to be reached, pupils' attitudes to core subjects and liking of school have declined, and teacher stress has increased. Far from changing teaching so that it has become more "interactive", whole-class teaching appears to have become more didactic and less challenging. The article concludes by arguing that the latest revisions of the Primary Strategy, while attempting to deal with some of the problems identified by the research, will also fail unless the continuing emphasis on accountability and testing is also reappraised.