FORMER BRITISH PRIME minister Tony Blair has warned against vengeance on bankers in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

Blair said we must not start thinking that society will be better “if we hang 20 bankers at the end of the street”.

Launching a defence of the free market rules established by the Thatcher government, Blair said allowing anger to lead to regulations that could reduce government involvement in free markets was dangerous.

“Don’t take 30 years of liberalisation, beginning under Mrs Thatcher, and say this is what caused the financial crisis,” he said.

Though main party figures have suggested that the crisis should lead to tougher bank regulation, Blair said Britain must not go back to a situation where the state runs everything.

“We must regain the basic values of what society is about,” he said “We’re not against wealth, but we are in favour of social responsibility.”

Blair’s comments may prove controversial as he has taken on the role of advisor to a US investment bank and a Swiss financial firm since quitting his job as prime minister.

In the interview, Blair said that he is looking for a way to re-enter British public life and discussed ambitions for taking an international political job.