Blair: 'Riots Not Caused By Broken Society'

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has weighed into the debate over this summer's rioting, accusing David Cameron, Ed Miliband and his successor as Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown of not properly understanding and addressing the underlying causes.



Writing in the Observer, he says suggestions that what happened shows Britain is in moral decline are nonsense.

"The big cause is the group of alienated, disaffected youth who are outside the social mainstream and who live in a culture at odds with any canons of proper behaviour," he claims.

"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 twentieth century. You find it in virtually every developed nation."

For which reason, he adds, suggesting that Britain has lost its way morally will depress people unnecessarily, trash our reputation abroad, and fail to deal with the problem in the only way that works.

And, in a thinly veiled attack on David Cameron's critique, he says: "We are in danger of the wrong analysis leading to the wrong diagnosis, leading to the wrong prescription."

But he also says the left places too much emphasis on social deprivation as the prime cause of the rioting.

The correct response, Mr Blair contends, is to intervene family by family, and to reform criminal justice around antisocial behaviour, organised crime, persistent offenders and gangs.

Mr Blair says the Labour government was working on it towards the end of his time in office.

But, in a dig at Gordon Brown, he maintains that after he left the agenda lost momentum.

That man is an oxygen thief!

Yet again he absolves himself of any blame.

Poor old Blair, it's there for all to see, bar him!