The Respect agenda was launched in September 2005 by Tony Blair, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Tony Blair described it as being about "putting the law-abiding majority back in charge of their communities" . Its aim was to help central government, local agencies, local communities, and citizens to tackle anti-social behaviour collaboratively and more effectively. In a speech in January 2006, Tony Blair acknowledged that Respect owed much to the work of sociologist Richard Sennett, particularly his 2003 book Respect: The Formation of Character in a World of Inequality.