Blair disappointed, says Cameron

Mr Cameron said the PM was 'desperate' to leave a legacy

Conservative leader David Cameron has called Tony Blair's 10 years as prime minister an era of "dashed hopes and big disappointments".

He accused Mr Blair of failing to do enough to improve schools and the NHS and alleviate poverty.

Mr Cameron, speaking on his Webcameron online video diary, said the prime minister had become "more and more desperate to secure his legacy".

Mr Blair had relied "too much" on the state to solve problems, he added.

The prime minister announced on Thursday that he would stand down on 27 June.

In a speech, he thanked the British people for their support and apologised for when "I have fallen short".

'Putting it mildly'

He added: "I have always done what I thought was right."

Mr Cameron said: "The prime minister speaks of some hopes that have been disappointed. I think that's putting it mildly.

"I think many people will look back on the last 10 years of dashed hopes and big disappointments, of so much promise and so little delivery."

Mr Cameron said hospitals were closing, school standards were "nothing like they should be" and that poverty was "entrenched" for many people.

He added: "I think, particularly in the last few weeks, the prime minister has been more and more desperate to secure his legacy.

"He sits in Downing Street pulling more and more levers and sees that nothing is really happening.

"That's the lesson to me of the last 10 years: there has been far too much emphasis on state action, [the belief] that another Downing Street initiative can solve the country's problems, whereas what we need is perhaps a bit less from the state."

Mr Cameron added that families, voluntary societies and charities - which "make our society strong" - needed to be given greater freedom.

This was the "change the country needs", he said.