A trainee reporter at the Llanelli Star managed to buttonhole Tony Blair on his recent visit to Wales – and asked him for his views on the issues important to readers.

Laura Grime was armed with all the questions when she met up with the PM at a party conference – and Mr Blair didn’t have all the answers.

But he did find time to pose for a picture with the enterprising trainee, who has worked at the Llanelli Star for 18 months.

Editor Robert Lloyd said: “We knew he was coming to Swansea and although it’s not strictly in our patch Laura had this idea to doorstep him.

“So rather than use our own questions, we sent her out to canvas the people of Llanelli for their ideas.”

The Prime Minister was, of course, happy to help – although he didn’t have time in his schedule for an interview there and then so had the replies sent back to the Star as soon as he could.

Laura said: “We were told he had a busy schedule but he found time to see me behind the main stage area.

“There were no other reporters where I saw him – I was the only one there! I thought it would be much busier.

“He didn’t have time to tackle all the questions but he did listen properly when I spoke to him. The other thing I noticed most is that he’s surprisingly tall!”

The questions were carefully filtered after the public response to an appeal and the paper decided to pose some that were relevant to Llanelli, such as the importance to Labour of constituencies like Llanelli.

Mr Blair promised: “If you give us the chance, we will do more for Llanelli and the whole of the country.”

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