TONY BLAIR is forcing Charles Clarke, the home secretary, and John Prescott to give up money from their budgets to fund his “anti-yob” adviser.

The ministerial split over the creation of a £90m fund under Louise Casey is revealed in a leak of one of Blair’s papers seen by The Sunday Times.

It confirms that No 10 is unhappy with ministers’ reaction to the initiative, despite denials from the prime minister last week.

A series of unofficial disclosures to this newspaper have shown that Blair is frustrated by the home secretary’s efforts to combat antisocial behaviour.

The latest reveals that he is also annoyed with Prescott, the deputy prime minister, for attempting to block more money for the campaign. Blair’s letter, sent to ministers last month, shows that he has forced Clarke and Prescott to hand over money to create the £90m fund for Casey, 38, the government’s “respect co-ordinator”.

The prime minster says he is “firmly of the view” that her work “will not be able to function and deliver” without the money. Blair sided with Casey against Clarke when she criticised “evidence-based” policy built on statistics, recently telling the home secretary at a private meeting that he needed “a sense of conviction” about the antisocial behaviour agenda.

Blair wrote his letter after Prescott blocked an initial request by a junior minister in July for £50m to be taken from the budget of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Casey’s unit. Blair said that the money should be doubled.

Writing to David Miliband, Prescott’s deputy, on August 4, Blair said: “I am grateful for what you have been doing so far with Louise and her ‘respect’ team . . . I am firmly of the view, though, that the ‘respect’ programme of work will not be able to function and deliver results without clear and dedicated funds from the relevant departments, particularly the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, where a major tranche of this works falls.”

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