Blair: keeping in touch

Prime Minister Plans "Talk To Tony" Sessions

The televised monthly appearances in front of voters will be held on Fridays and will be based around a particular theme, Downing Street disclosed.

The first "Talk to Tony" session will be on June 13 in the West Midlands on the topic of law and order.

Future meetings in Scotland and Wales will give the audience a chance to quiz him on Labour's devolution plans.

The move is designed to build on Mr Blair's general election campaign style when he held a series of such meetings at venues around the country.

However, it will infuriate Tory MPs who will almost certainly see it as an attempt to circumvent proper parliamentary scrutiny by going over the heads of the Commons.

Conservatives have already been angered by Mr Blair's move to scrap the twice-weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House and replace it by a single 30-minute session.

However, a Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister was determined not to lose sight of the concerns of ordinary people and the world beyond Whitehall.

"It is very keeping in touch with members of the public - the British people - and not getting stuck in Westminster," the spokesman said.

"Blair Is Trying To Avoid Parliament"

Sir Archie Hamilton, chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, said the public question time initiative showed Mr Blair was trying to avoid Parliament.

"Labour think they are still fighting the general election and think they can by-pass Parliament," he said. "It's becoming very disconcerting and worrying that Tony Blair thinks the whole process of Government can be conducted outside Parliament."

Sir Archie said there had been a whole series of initiatives, including the announcement of greater independence for the Bank of England, which had been made with no reference to Parliament.

Sir Archie said Mr Blair's weakness on devolution had been exposed by John Major who had asked him five consecutive questions on the subject during the longer session of Prime Minister's questions.

"He has realised that the longer sessions of Prime Minister's questions have become an enormous liability for him," Sir Archie said.

He added: "The great British public will only get one question at him, and he is very adept at not answering the question."