This has indeed been Home Secretary David Blunkett's summer of discontent.

Just five weeks into his new Cabinet role and he has had the powderkeg that is the north of England thrust into his lap - a powderkeg that exploded in Bradford last weekend.

With an almost otherworldly sense of co-incidence - whether divine or diabolical depends on your point of view - the long-awaited Bradford Race Review was also released just days after the riots, as the city was still clearing up the wreckage from the weekend.

Sir Herman Ouseley's report, titled Community Pride Not Prejudice, has been given a varied reception in the city, with some hailing it as long overdue and others saying it offers no new solutions to an old problem.

It has also been critical of the way the police handle the racial situation in Bradford, which is something Mr Blunkett is keen to talk about.

After chasing him all week for an interview I get a few minutes before he dashes off to his son's 21st birthday party - the only night off he's had since coming into the Home Office hot-seat in the post-election Cabinet reshuffle in June.

The Ouseley report claims inconsistent and conflicting styles of policing are being practised in Bradford, and says that management appear to push anti-racist approaches but frontline officers are afraid of tackling ethnic-related problems for fear of being branded racist.

It's obviously something he has decided to tackle immediately. Mr Blunkett says he is now satisfied that Bradford police are now operating more in line with his strategies and applauded the way they have kept calm in the city since the weekend riots.

He said that recent flashpoint situations in the North had "resulted in the police being a bit jumpy, which makes it more difficult for them".

But, he added: "The action they have been taking over the last few days is entirely in line with what I want."

As far as complaints go that the rank-and-file officers fail to act on racially-motivated grounds, Mr Blunkett, perhaps appropriately, insists that justice is indeed blind.

He said: "We do not excuse acts of violence at all, whatever the colour or religion of the person committing them. We must be equally tough and equally fair."

He ruminates over this as he speaks. "Equally tough and equally fair," he says again to himself. "I like that." A new soundbite in the making, perhaps?

An example of this new policy he has just dreamed up he gives in response to the suggestion that drug dealers - mainly Asian - operate on Bradford's streets without fear of reprisals from the police.

This, too, is a topic with which he is on the ball. "The police in Bradford are already talking to people in the community who are giving them the information they need to work against the organised drug dealers," he said. "People so far have been very responsive, enabling the police to do their jobs.

"I must stress here that the communities must be the solution to this, rather than the communities being the problem. I am very confident it will work."

West Yorkshire police themselves have admitted they did not contain the riots as well as they should have done on Saturday. As a result Mr Blunkett now hopes to share best-practice "riot expertise" between forces.

He said: "The Association of Chief Police Officers have issued guidance on handling riots.

"Some areas have had greater experience than others in handling not just disturbances but large-scale public events.

"For example, the Metropolitan Police have had particular experience with the anarchists that have gathered in London recently. We aim to make sure there is always a contact point so that, for example, an officer in Bradford can contact someone in London to discuss sensible practices. It's not a case of teaching anyone's granny to suck eggs, but rather to share experience of handling what we hope are unusual events."

Mr Blunkett would not be drawn on Ouseley's criticisms of political leadership in Bradford, but did break away from the traditional confines of the Home Secretary role to appeal for the city's community leaders to take action for themselves.

He said: "I've kept out of local issues on this, but local people must take responsibility for local matters.

"There's a tendency to push up the problem to someone above rather than deal with it. People at all levels must take responsibility. I have given my backing on this, and I urge people not to pass the problem on."