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BRITAIN’S CONSERVATIVE LEADER PRAISES OBAMA, AS HE CALLS FOR “RESPONSIBILITY REVOLUTION”

David Cameron praises Barack Obama as he calls for a “responsibility revolution”
By Lucy Cockcroft
Last Updated: 9:19PM BST 16/07/2008
David Cameron called for a “responsibility revolution” in Britain last night, as he praised Barack Obama’s warning that too many black fathers neglect their duties to their children.

The Conservative leader said that many black church leaders in this country have expressed similar anxieties, and that it was time to change the pattern of behaviour.

Mr Cameron said the Democratic candidate to become the next US President had been very “brave” in his condemnation of those fathers who do not take their responsibilities seriously.

He said: “I think he’s absolutely right. I mean I think it’s a very brave thing to do. And it will have a huge influence that he has said it.

“I’ve had a number of meetings with black church leaders who make the same point too. They are concerned about the family breakdown and social breakdown and want to see what I call a responsibility revolution take place.

“I think it is a very important part of our responsibility agenda.”

In an interview with The Guardian, Mr Cameron also said that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson was wrong when he criticised Obama’s speech on parental responsibilities as “talking down to black people”.

He acknowledged that the historic discrimination and economic disadvantage black people have experienced has had a role to play in the situation, but said: “At the same time we will never solve the long term problems unless people also take responsibility for their own lives.”

The message comes a week after the Conservative leader called for the obese, the idle and the poor to take more responsibility for themselves, saying society is too sensitive and fails to “say what needs to be said”.

He warned Britain could become a “demoralised society”, adding: “Children are growing up without boundaries, thinking they can do as they please, and why no adult will intervene to stop them - including, often, their parents. “If we are going to get any where near solving some of these problems, that has to stop.”

Speaking about his own role as a father in the interview, Mr Cameron admitted that his parenting skills are a work in progress, and disclosed that he uses the “naughty step” to discipline his children.

Mr Cameron said that in the past two years he has taken the Conservative Party to the second stage in its modernisation agenda, likening the process to moving beyond level one in the computer game Tomb Raider.

He said level one had required him to prove that he was a “reasonable, decent, non-discriminating, sensible, practical person who understands the world as it is lived today, who wants to live in the modern world and who accepts what that means.”

Now he has conquered that stage, he says it “allows the Conservatives to talk about some of the difficult issues about families and responsibilities. It can lead to trouble. You take a risk every time you do it, but I think the alternative of saying nothing is that you leave out a whole important area of social reform.”

He added: “We are not going to solve poverty by just building an even bigger tax credit system. We’re going to solve poverty by looking at its causes - the drugs, alcohol, the family breakdown.”

Mr Cameron also denied he was giving a false impression of Britain by talking of a broken society. He said: “There is a general incivility that people have to put up with, people shouting on the bus or abusing you on the street or road rage.

“There is a lot of casual violence and I think it is important to draw attention to it.”

British black leaders gave Mr Cameron’s words a cautious welcome. Tony Sewell, director of Generating Genius, which encourages black youngsters to study science, said: “This is an issue that needs to be discussed, and Cameron is well placed to discuss it, as it is in keeping with the current Tory agenda around social investment.

“This used to be very much a Labour agenda, but Labour just isn’t really delivering on it.”

Mr Obama is due to meet both Mr Cameron and Gordon Brown when he visits London next week.

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