David Cameron :Rioters need tough love

Prime Minister David Cameron has said those involved in the riots need "tough love" as he promised to "get to grips" with the country's problem families. He has vowed to turn around the lives of 120,000 families by 2015. The PM told the BBC the money to do that would be found, despite spending cuts, and that it would "save the country a fortune" in the long term. He denied his response to the riots indicated a lurch to the right, calling himself a "common-sense Conservative". In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cameron said "tough love" - and indeed "both elements of it" - were crucial to dealing with rioters. "For some of the children who've ended up in this terrible situation there was probably a failure in their background, in their families," he said. "There probably was a shortage of not just respect and boundaries but also love. But you do need, when they cross the line and break the law, to be very tough. 'Systematic intervention' image of Carole Walker Carole Walker Pollitical correspondent, BBC News Is David Cameron an old-style, right-wing Tory, praising courts for locking up rioters, or a compassionate Conservative prepared to hug a hoodie? He told the Today programme he's "a common sense Conservative" and summed up his approach as "tough love". It's a phrase he used shortly after he became Tory leader in 2006. Then he said he did not mean "sentimental, childish love which sees no wrong in anyone" but "love that values people, and therefore demands high standards from them". The right of his party would prefer him to stick to the "tough" part of the message, but what sorts of things might the PM himself have in mind? Well, we got some ideas from Education Secretary Michael Gove yesterday, including greater powers for teachers to deal with unruly behaviour and truancy. Iain Duncan Smith is another key figure in the strategy. His changes to the welfare system are designed to end the cycle of unemployment, deprivation, family breakdown and crime. David Cameron hopes the riots will vindicate his claim that parts of our society are broken. But it will be a long time before anyone can judge whether tough love works. "That's what [Work and Pensions Secretary] Iain Duncan Smith and [Home Secretary] Theresa May and others in the government believe and will deliver. "I think it's an opportunity, we have to use try and use this an opportunity, to do things to strengthen our society, which along with rebuilding a strong economy is going to be this government's priority." He said the UK must "do better at bringing up our children" and insisted that "much more systematic" intervention in the 120,000 most troubled families was key. "There's lots of contact with these families, but no-one's actually working on the family, to get into that family and work out what's actually wrong and put it right." Asked whether he was proposing to do this without spending any more, the PM said: "I'm not saying no extra money... but this will be a great investment to save money for our country. 'Wake-up moment' "How exactly we find the money, we'll come onto that, but don't worry, this is going to be done - it's a promise I have made." Mr Cameron reiterated his belief that the riots that erupted in several English cities last month were straightforward criminality - rather than any form of protest - but he said it was not just a criminal underclass who were responsible for them. "Tragically, we also saw people who were just drawn into it, who passed the broken shop window and popped in and nicked a telly. "That is a sign of moral collapse, of failing to recognise the difference between right and wrong." He added: "I think we all need to have a wake-up moment in terms of exercising our responsibilities." The prime minister was asked about his membership of Oxford University drinking society the Bullingdon Club, some of whose members have been involved in acts of vandalism. "We all do stupid things when we are young and we should learn the lessons," he said.