Prompting criticism from newspapers and the Tories of gimmickry, Prime Minister Tony Blair helped a graffiti-tackling team remove some vandalism from a wall using a pressure hose.
The PM was visiting an estate in Swindon as part of the government’s Respect launch, where he was told "the tide is turning" against anti-social behaviour.
Local MP Anne Snelgrove said she was "very pleased" with the Respect initiative, adding "it is exactly what I and the government has been pushing for".
When asked what he would say to the boys responsible for the graffiti, who had been watching Mr Blair remove it, the Prime Minister said "I would simply say ‘don’t do it’." He then held a meeting with local residents, community leaders and police officers to listen to their anti-social behaviour issues.
Mr Blair listened to local resident Brian Tildesley, who for the past 20 years has suffered from misbehaviour on his estate. Mr Tildesley said of the government’s plans: "Respect has to go some way to help. It’s all going in the right direction. The tide is turning."
Parenting classes
Also talking to Tony Blair was Anne-Marie Golding who undertook parenting classes after her son got into trouble. She praised the Youth Offending Service for their support and welcomed the government’s Respect initiative. And the civil servant heading the government’s Respect task force, Louise Casey, reiterated the government’s commitment to seeing the problem through. She said: "We are trying to start at the beginning and work right to the very end."
Meanwhile, Conservative leader David Cameron said: "Tony Blair said that we should be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime – and he was right. The trouble is, he’s been neither, and now it seems as if he’s given up any serious attempt to do tackle the underlying causes of social breakdown."
Instead, he said, the real respect agenda had to be positive and optimistic, trusting the people in communities who have the solutions to complex problems like family breakdown, drug addiction, and poverty of aspiration. He said: "We need to use the good sense in our communities, and support it. Tony Blair’s recycled crackdowns miss the point. This issue is too important to be dealt with by ‘eye-catching initiatives’ designed to get newspaper headlines. It’s about getting to grips with the real problems, tackling the long-term causes of our society’s loss of respect."
