'Boris Johnson boot camps' to dissuade future rioters

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Boris Johnson is planning 25 summer schools, or "boot camps", for teenagers from poor backgrounds next year, to head off more riots.

The London Mayor will be the main speaker today at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, and is expected to talk about lessons from the riots.

He hopes to raise backing from big business to create places in summer schools similar to the Eastside Young Leaders' Academy run by Ray Lewis, who was once London's deputy mayor for young people. His school introduces discipline into the lives of problem boys, in what has been described as "a handbrake turn in their lives."

The £2m scheme will provide places for 750 children in the first year. The Mayor hopes then to be able to roll it out across London.

Munira Mirza,his adviser on culture and youth, told the Standard: "Our broad objectives are to reduce truancy, improve behaviour, minimise the use of exclusions, help with literacy and encourage these children to carry on into further education."