Blair gives warning over riots

20 August 2011 Last updated at 18:13 ET

Tony Blair said one of the causes of the England riots was disaffected ths

“Muddle-headed analysis” of the recent riots may result in the wrong policy responses, Tony Blair has warned.

In a rare foray into domestic politics, the former prime minister also dismissed claims the country was in the grip of a “moral decline”.

Writing in the Observer, he said the riots were “an absolutely specific problem that requires a deeply specific solution” by politicians.

The “big” cause was “alienated, disaffected th,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the Sunday Express, Prime Minister David Cameron pledged a fightback against “the wrong-headed ideas, bureaucratic nonsense and destructive culture” which had led to the current problems.

‘High falutin’ wail’

Mr Blair points to a group of people “outside the social mainstream and who live in a culture at odds with any canons of proper behaviour”.

“Focus on the specific problem and we can begin on a proper solution,” he writes.

“Elevate this into a high falutin’ wail about a Britain that has lost its way morally and we will depress ourselves unnecessarily, trash our own reputation abroad, and worst of all, miss the chance to deal with the problem in the only way that will work.”

He added that politicians’ responses to the four days of rioting and looting created a danger of the “wrong analysis leading to the wrong diagnosis, leading to the wrong prescription”.

He went on to say: “The key is to understand that they aren’t symptomatic of society at large. Failure to get this leads to a completely muddle-headed analysis of what has gone wrong. Britain as a whole is not in the grip of some general ‘moral decline’.

“The truth is that many of these people are from families that are profoundly dysfunctional, operating on completely different terms from the rest of society, either middle class or poor.

“This is a phenomenon of the late 20th century. find it in virtually every developed nation.”

Mr Blair said that it was essential that the police felt they had the backing of the government.

“The police need to know they have strong support. They need to feel it from politicians and public alike.”

Police presence

But in the Sunday Express, Mr Cameron bemoans the culture that has led to the “twisting and misrepresenting of human rights”.

He writes: “There are deep problems in our society that have been growing for a long time: a decline in responsibility, a rise in selfishness, a growing sense that individual rights come before anything .

“So though it won’t be easy, though it will mean taking on parts of the establishment, I am determined we get a grip on the misrepresentation of human rights.”

The prime minister also said that his commitment to tackling the “greed and thuggery” seen during the riots and episodes of looting would be backed up by “the full force of the law”.

“We need a stronger police presence on the streets, deterring crime and catching criminals instead of filling in forms or wasting time on phoney targets,” he said.

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