Analysis By Nick Assinder Political correspondent, BBC News website

In the morning he was on the comfy, breakfast-TV sofa doing his best buddy act with Gordon Brown.

Newsnight interview

A few hours later, Tony Blair was on a decidedly more hardbacked chair for the Paxman interview.

In between times he had continued his so-called "masochism strategy" of facing real people - albeit in carefully controlled conditions - during a campaign meeting in Leeds where he was challenged by a disenchanted former Labour voter.

And if there was a common thread running throughout the events it was probably the sense of a man needing to defend his record.

With the BBC's Jeremy Paxman, he was challenged specifically on Iraq, asylum and allegedly broken promises on tax.

The war is the issue that has probably done most to undermine voters' trust in the prime minister.

Yet, so far, it has failed to take centre stage in this campaign. Mr Paxman revived it in characteristically robust style.

Right decision

But anyone hoping for some change of tone from the prime minister, or even an apology, will have been sorely disappointed.

This was Tony Blair in his now well practised, burdens-of-office mode.

Mr Blair had been out meeting voters

As prime minister he had the awesome responsibility of having to take decisions on issues such as whether to go to war on Iraq. He took that decision in all integrity, he suggested.

It was the right decision to have taken and he was unapologetic for it, yet he did not disrespect those who believed they had been misled, he said.

It is an answer he has rehearsed time and again and is not about to re-write in the second half of the general election campaign.

Similarly, he was not about to confess to having misled voters about his intentions on taxation at the last election.

Extra spending

Four years ago, in a similar interview, he had rejected Mr Paxman's suggestion that it was clear from all he had said that he would raise National Insurance contributions if he was re-elected.

There is another well-rehearsed answer to this one - he was only led to increase NICs after a post-election report indicated such levels of extra spending were necessary for the health service.

Mr Paxman revived concerns over the war

So couldn't he do the same again, if he wins a third time, when, for example, the Turner report into the pensions black hole is delivered.

He was not about to be drawn into mapping out budgets at this point, he declared.

And there was more but, it has to be said, despite some persistent probing, there was nothing particularly surprising in the answers.

And the prime minister may well feel he emerged with few bruises from the encounter with one of the toughest boys on the block.