Paxman and Humphrys had tried and failed, and the finest of Fleet Street had elicited only vague, on-the-record testimony. But yesterday seven schoolboys grilled the Prime Minister’s closest political colleague and garnered the confirmation that Ed Balls would indeed like to be Prime Minister.

The 12-year-old pupils from St Martin’s School in Northwood, Middlesex, had been invited to question the Schools Secretary as a prize for winning the inaugural Times Spelling Bee competition in June.

Between questions about his schooldays — Mr Balls pole-vaulted for his county and was once given detention for climbing on a roof to get a ball back — they threw the googly.

Would you like to have the top political job in the land, the one currently held, just, by your long-time friend Gordon Brown?

“It is the hardest job in the country being Prime Minister,” Mr Balls replied. “On the one hand, the challenge of doing the hardest job ... I don’t think you could honestly say you wouldn’t like to have a go.”

The antennae of Westminster veterans twitched. Mr Balls had admitted in an interview in March of this year to leadership ambitions, saying: “I’m not going to say that I don’t want to be leader of the Labour Party — that’s a silly thing to say.” But this was a step beyond.

Amid the “don’t” and “wouldn’t” was a strong hint of “yes, I am definitely a contender”.

Knowing that they had the killer news line, the schoolboys veered towards a subject closer to their hearts — the dumbing down of GCSEs and A levels.

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