A Tory frontbencher who was recently duped by conmen has set out his stance on how neighbours should play a bigger role in cutting crime in society. Early last Thursday morning, Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary, was preparing for work when he received a knock at his front door from a man asking to use the toilet. Being a kindly soul, he let the man in, whereafter he immediately stole Mr Letwin's wallet, mobile phone and various other things.

As Mr Letwin said himself, "It is a sad reflection on our society if you cannot sensibly let someone go to the loo," and this event is now proving to be a springboard from which the Tory party is launching a new bid to position itself as the party of law and order.

Delivering the 6th Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture at the Centre for Policy Studies, Mr Letwin argued that far too many people were being drawn into crime, on a type of conveyor belt "on which the individual passes through successive stages: neglected or abused child, disruptive pupil, anti-social teenagers, young offender, first-time prisoner, repeat offender, hardened criminal."

Mr Letwin said that we should be asking not what causes crime, but what causes a "neighbourly society", the opposite of crime. He said that a neighbourly society is one that is "first and foremost about the establishment and preservation of right relationships amongst persons. Only strong communities can provide the initiation into these relationships; and only these strong relationships can foster stronger communities. This is the virtuous cycle of social responsibility: the neighbourly society inducts the individual into the community and the community sustains the neighbourly society."