The Labour leader, arriving at the St Andrews Bay Hotel after a tiring day on the campaign trail, laughed that he was so relaxed at the end of it he’d “probably say anything.”

However, he was soon on the back foot as Forfar mum Susan Cox questioned why there was so much support for working parents compared with those who stay at home to look after their children and are not on benefits.

Mr Blair pointed out that the Labour Government had increased Child Benefit payments, after stand-still years under the previous administration.

“I have to be frank with you, we have put a lot of resources into helping people who are trying to juggle working and family life,” he said.

“And it’s not any disrespect to anyone who chooses to stay at home and look after their children — that’s a fantastic thing. The question is — how do you recognise that financially? It’s very, very difficult.”

Asked whether tax allowance could be transferred between a husband and wife if one wasn’t working, he said that the cost would be as much as £2.5billion.

Susan said, “It seems to be that you want kids to be brought up in a nursery,” but Mr Blair replied, “It really isn’t like that. The Working Families Tax Credit can sometimes help the woman, or sometimes the man, to stay at home. What it means is that if somebody is on a relatively low wage it boosts their income.

“The Children’s Tax Credit does the same. It is not that Working Families Tax Credit only helps couples where both partners are working.”

The Prime Minister was then asked by Dundee woman Heather Stolvoort what the Government is doing about work, such as call centre posts, going overseas.

He pointed out that the drain of call centre jobs to countries with lower wage costs had actually been less than some feared.

“The honest answer is that there are always going to be jobs coming and going at any time in the modern world,” continued Mr Blair.

“There is no way I can protect people against this. Countries like India and China, where the labour costs are very low, are going to be taking some of these jobs, and we have got to be moving up to the next level.

“That is one of the reasons why in Dundee, we are putting a lot of money into science and technology, to try and develop the next generation of jobs.”

Although he was primarily there to see his son Glen meet the Prime Minister, John Head was also able to put a question on a topic that has been at the top of political debate lately – the council tax.

He suggested that it might be fairer for the council tax to be abolished and the equivalent sum raised by putting up VAT instead, the idea being that richer people who bought more things would pay more.

Mr Blair decided to conduct an immediate exercise in democracy by saying to the panel, “Let’s put that the vote.” In the event the idea found no takers from the rest of our readers.

The Prime Minister explained that VAT was often seen a regressive tax, one that could hit poorer people such as OAPs harder because there were certain things they needed to buy.

However, bringing in exemptions for some items, such as food, would mean it was not possible to raise enough revenue to pay for council services.

He admitted, “The council tax is an inefficient tax. It is a hang over from the poll tax, which was a ghastly experiment. There is debate going on about what is the best way to replace council tax. I’m going to have to say no to the VAT.”

An old phrase of the Prime Minister’s then came back to haunt him as Dundee woman Elizabeth Kane asked how he would “educate, educate, educate” our children when a recent report by Dundee’s director of education linked low attainment in schools to poverty.

Mr Blair said that the Government was putting a lot of money into education in Dundee — almost £100million — and much of that was going to the most disadvantaged areas. He continued, “I think it is very important we never accept that children, if they are from a poor background, cannot attain a high standard of education. They should be able to.”

The discussion then focused on whether vocational and academic qualifications should be given parity, and the prime minister heard details of a construction course which is helping get Dundee teenagers into apprenticeships.

“I would like to see a situation,” Mr Blair added, “where no young person leaves school at 16 unless they go into some recognised form of training.”

Someone still at school is Liam Sturrock, of St John’s High, who asked Mr Blair, “What are Labour doing to encourage more young people into politics?”

The Prime Minister said he was convinced that many young people were interested in politics, “they are just turned off by what they see of politics on the TV. There are issues that young people are passionate about, such as Africa and the environment.”

His advice for any young person was to join a political party and get involved in debate. He would also support efforts to try to get school pupils interested in politics.

However, he said he was not in favour of bringing the voting age down to 16. “How old are you?” he asked Liam. “16,” was his reply. “Bad move,” the Prime Minister said with a grin.

He looked over at Glen and added, “We can’t drop it to 13, not even for people who share the same birthday as me. I think that I only got interested in politics when I was 20, 21. I was doing other things at 16.”

Liam suggested it might help engage younger people more if there were more candidates close to their age. At present the minimum age limit for an MP is 21.

Mr Blair advised that people should not start out seeking political office, but should do something else first. Experience of the real world would stand them in good stead later.

“I was a lawyer for seven years. I learned so much about the world doing that.

“I constantly forget that for most people politics is a fleeting thing in their lives. The trouble often with politicians is that they are completely divorced from the lives that people are actually living and the problems they have.”

The final question from Mike Comerford, who told the Prime Minister that Dundee had done a lot to reinvent itself and he now wanted to know what Labour would do to assist that regeneration if it won the next General Election.

Mr Blair said there was a big regeneration under way in Dundee, which was getting £9 million from the £90 million fund for Scottish cities. He said, “We want to keep that going.”

The city could also benefit from the Government’s efforts to get more people off benefit and into work.

He pointed in particular to the large number of people on incapacity benefit. Labour has been keen lately to talk up its plans for finding ways for people who feel they are unable to work to get back into employment if possible.

The Prime Minister added that the economy generally was doing well, but he understood that modern life was “stressful.”