Analysis By Nick Assinder Political Correspondent, BBC News website

It may be a new year but, with one awful addition, the prime minister has returned to work to find himself facing the same old questions.

Watch the interview

To that list, the Christmas break added the horror of the Asian tsunami disaster and the subsequent questions over his response to it.

In his first interview since returning from his holiday in Egypt, with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the prime minister was eager to confound his critics by showing he was, and had always been, in complete control and was looking towards that longed-for third term.

And, on the day his chancellor had published what appeared to many as an alternative election manifesto, he was out to remind voters, at least, who was boss.

Joint ownership

Reacting to claims he had lost his famous ability to chime with the public mood over the tsunami disaser, he said he did not believe the British people needed him to articulate what they felt.

And he dismissed suggestions he should have returned early from his break to handle the reaction to the disaster, insisting he had been getting on with the job from his holiday retreat.

He also claimed joint ownership of Mr Brown's campaign to get the G8 to freeze debt repayments from tsunami-struck countries, stating that was "precisely what I have been doing" during the days since the disaster struck.

Mr Brown presented manifesto plans

While heaping praise on Mr Brown, he once again found himself denying suggestions of a breakdown in relations re-ignited by the chancellor's article in the Guardian newspaper in which he outlined what "should" be in Labour's next election manifesto.

That has fed speculation that Mr Brown believes he is being sidelined by new elections boss Alan Milburn and had deliberately used the article to set out his own stall.

The prime minister again stated the chancellor would have "as central a role" in the next election as he had in the past two.

That is unlikely to stop the gossip over the relationship between the two men which some claim is as bad as it has ever been.

And many fear Mr Brown is going out of his way to set out his own platform in preparation for a leadership bid, possibly shortly after the next election.

Future plans

As far as that was concerned, Mr Blair again claimed it had been sensible for him to meet questions about his own future by setting out his plans to stay on for a full third term before standing down.

Many on his own benches fear the effect of that announcement last year was to turn the prime minister into a lame duck facing the prospect of a challenge to his leadership very quickly after winning a third term.

And for them, the most likely successor is still Mr Brown.

The fact that the chancellor appeared to take the initiative over aid to the disaster-hit countries added to speculation over his future plans - as did his Guardian article.

Tsunami disaster tested Blair's touch

But Mr Blair appears as determined as ever to stick to his personal timetable and brush aside any speculation as the usual media froth.

However, his refusal to specifically deny a claim his health had prevented him from returning early from his holiday - choosing instead to deny he had undergone plastic surgery - will feed those seeking signs of weakness.

His BBC Radio 4 interview sought to stop that impression gaining ground - by presenting a man as committed, engaged and as in control as ever.