Grayling debuts his own soundbite

Say what you will about soundbites, but there’s little doubting the power they can have.  Take, for instance, Tony Blair’s famous declaration that Labour would be “Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”.  Not only was it memorable and snappy, but it encapsulated, and still encapsulates, the kind of Broken Windows thinking that’s since become near-consensus.  Problem is, it’s so good a soundbite, that – despite Labour’s failure to live up the pledge – subsequent politicians and oppositions have struggled to escape its shadow.  How else to describe an approach on crime?

Chris Grayling made a valiant effort to shift the goalposts in his first major speech as shadow home secretary, earlier today.  Sure, there were plenty of references to Blair’s soundbite (eg. “[Blair] was absolutely right – to be tough on crime you have to be tough on the causes of crime … Nice analysis, shame about the delivery” ), but also a few new lines of Grayling’s own.