Mother ambushes Blair during live TV questions

Tony Blair was ambushed by a tearful mother during a live television interview today.

The Prime Minister was taking questions from a Channel Five audience when Maria Hutchings rushed up to the podium.

She had to be manhandled back to her seat after trying to confront him about lack of support for her autistic son.

She agreed to back off after Mr Blair moved quickly to defuse the situation by promising to talk to her in private after the show.

It happened as he was discussing school discipline on Five's current affairs show, The Wright Stuff, filmed in Birmingham. Mr Blair was explaining how the Government is trying change the culture in schools through such measures as the re-introduction of uniforms when the woman said: "Tony that's rubbish," and rushed up to the stage.

It is understood that she was angry at lack of help for special needs children in schools.

Labour Party strategists are desperate to avoid such confrontations during the run-up to the general election, and the Government is particularly sensitive about autism after the row over the alleged possible link with the MMR jab.

As the woman was returned to her seat by a member of the studio staff, Mr Blair told her: "Honestly, don't worry. I'll speak to you at the end and we can go through the issue and talk about it together."

Labour suffered a public relations disaster during the last general election campaign after a woman lambasted Mr Blair on live TV about her husband's hospital treatment.