Public gets chance to text Tony

The 45-minute session will be transmitted live from No.10 Downing Street on Thursday 25th November, at 1pm.

From today, the UK public will be able to text Blair to ask questions about life in the UK and world today. These questions, which can be on any subject from the Iraq war to the potential smoking ban, will be personally answered by the PM.

O2 said this is the first time that a UK politician has used SMS and a mobile chat room to communicate with the public.

Blair said: "Every week I take questions from MPs. This is the chance for everyone else to use their mobile phones to ask me the questions they want answered."

The opportunity is available to any mobile user, who can text the letters PM and then their question to 80202.

Alternatively, they can join the chat by going to O2 Active on the day. Questions can be submitted in advance by SMS, photo messaging or WAP.

On the day, independent interviewer Margherita Taylor will select 20 to 30 questions from those text message that have been submitted and then will put them direct to the PM in a live Chatroom on O2 Active.

The live chat with the PM is being hosted on O2 Active but customers from all networks will be able to submit questions in advance by text message.

A full transcript of the interview will be available on the internet when the session is over.