Matthew d’Ancona and Tim Montgomerie of Conservative Home debate what the Tories can–and should–learn from Blair. Read Matt’s opener here, Tim’s response here and the second round.
Tim
The trouble with “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” is that it embodies the worst of Blair: the Vickie Pollard aspect of New Labour, which says “Yeah, but no, but yeah, but no”, and ends up saying nothing. Nobody sensible would deny that there is a “conveyor belt to crime” or that rehabilitation is desirable. The trouble is that this is not a new thought at all.
Since Roy Jenkins and Reggie Maudling, the orthodox position of the liberal criminal justice industry – egged on by the Treasury! – has been to reduce prison capacity through various forms of release and (related to this) to treat criminal behaviour essentially as a sickness that can be cured or at least driven into remission.
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