The Sunday Telegraph revealed that 48 hours later, "the yobs delivered their emphatic response". A vulgar message to Mr Blair was spray-painted in 3ft-high letters across a 20ft section of the wall he had cleaned.
Not surprisingly, the fresh graffiti did not last long. A council workman had cleaned the wall by 9am, said the paper.
Other journalistic minds were at work too. The Daily Mirror was pleased to find that Tony Blair's grandmother had been a "graffiti vandal". It said that Mary Blair helped daub Communist slogans on walls in the 1930s. She helped mix the whitewash, apparently.
A columnist who also happens to be a Member of the Scottish Parliament grew eloquent in defence of modern youth.
Writing in Glasgow's Sunday Mail, Rosie Kane acknowledged that young people hanging about the streets can be frightening. But she said the organisations that change the attitudes of young people for the better are underfunded.
She described young people she knew: "Some had been disruptive or violent, some had caused chaos at home, others had bullied or been bullied at school and a few were dependent on alcohol."
An antisocial behaviour order (ASBO) or a curfew would not have helped them, wrote Kane: "They needed support, understanding, hope and belief. In other words, respect."
How does an MSP get to be so wise? She used to be a youth worker. "I did not learn this in Parliament," she confessed. "I learned this from the brilliant young people I worked with."
Anyone who doubted that ASBOs can be worn with pride is in for a surprise. They are now for sale on eBay.
"Get hard! Get street cred! Get an ASBO!", promises an advert on the online auction house. Purchasers get their "very own ASBO", including terms and conditions, a map showing where they can't go, a conditional court summons, and "documentary evidence of the mayhem you've inflicted on your 'hood'".
For an extra fee, the seller says, "we'll even send a cop over to your house to check your ID, rough you up a bit and shout at your mum". That bit might be a joke.
