Blair admits smacking his children

TONY BLAIR smacked his three older children when they were small, he admitted yesterday, but insisted that he does not hit his five-year-old son, Leo.

Mr Blair was put on the spot about his methods of parental discipline by Kirsty Wark, the BBC Two Newsnight interviewer, at a question and answer session with the public and media in Swindon as he promoted his “respect” agenda.

He was asked: “Do you smack your kids? Did you?”

When he failed to reply immediately, Ms Wark asked him: “Did it cause a problem?”

Mr Blair said: “No, I think actually, funnily enough, I’m probably different with my youngest than I was with my older ones.”

Misunderstanding his reply, Ms Wark asked him: “What, you do smack the younger one?”

Mr Blair, whose other children are aged 21, 20 and 17, replied: “No no, no no. It was actually the other way round but . . . I think, look, this smacking . . . I mean, I agree with what you just said, I think everybody actually knows the difference between smacking a kid and abusing a child.

“But I, if I can honestly say this to you — I think the problem is when you get these really, really difficult families, it’s moved a bit beyond that.”

In 2004 as the Government faced calls to back a total ban on physical punishment, Mr Blair said he understood why parents would want to smack “really naughty” children.

But he said that he felt “a bit different now”, and called for a “dose of common sense” in the debate.

His comment came during debates on the Children Act, which bans any physical punishment by parents in England and Wales that leaves a mark on the youngster.

In 1998 the European Court of Human Rights declared that the ancient British law that permits the “reasonable chastisement” of children was unlawful. The ruling has been endorsed by two parliamentary committees, and the monitoring committee of the UN’s Rights of the Child Convention.

Of course, it is perfectly possible that Mr Blair does not smack Leo because the boy is perfectly behaved and dutifully respects his father at all times.

(Ed: Tony Blair ain't very smart. He does not seem to realise that Leo is the son of his old age. Most men will know that their youngest children get away with stuff the older ones did not. Oh and of course as P.M. he will be seeing less of Leo than his older children )