CRISPIN BLUNT

THE JUSTICE MINISTER Crispin Blunt has been shot down by the prime minister for his earlier announcement that he was prepared to rescind his predecessors guidance which prohibited prison governors from allowing tax payers money to be spent on comedy workshops of the type once available at Whitemoor Prison. Jack Straw had put paid to such activities following the bad publicity surrounding the monster’s ball held by inmates of Holloway Prison which included such celebrity murderers as, Amie Bartholomew, Emma Last, Rochelle Ethrington, Bella Coll, Jayne Richards, Alison Walder and Ginny Crutcher.

I must say that Crispin Blunt seemed determined upon his journey of self-destruction earlier when he announced his intentions. Perhaps he is writing out his resignation as I write.

He also attacked and wanted to see an end to Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection (ISPP) that judges can give to any offender who upon their release may prove a danger to the public.

Mr Blunt apparently feels this is unfair to the inmates in our overcrowded prisons, and no doubt he and the Justice Secretary Ken Clarke both share the same philosophy as Andrew Bridges, the chief inspector of probation who had the audacity to suggest recently that prison was a,“rather drastic form of crime prevention”.

Andrew Bridges believes that prison overcrowding demands that serious criminals should be released, and if they reoffend we (not him mind you) will just have to live with the consequences, because we, as a nation, cannot afford to build ever more prisons. Is this after all what it is all about – cost? Both Left and Right in this coalition government see an advantage in reducing the prison population. The Right may not like what it entails but the deficit would be cut. As for the Left, well they actually believe in the policy as part of their ‘progressive’ liberal agenda.

We are told that the annul cost of keeping someone in prison is £40,000. If this remarkable figure proves to be true, and if cost plays such an important role in the minds of these social liberals, then why not bring back capital punishment instead of risking the lives of the innocent public by releasing murderer’s early with the possibility of them reoffending?

AS IT HAS BEEN THE social liberal’s who have played the economic card. Let us examine what it costs the taxpayer to keep a murderer in prison for say 15-20 years, which sadly represents the outer reaches of life sentencing for some 4,500 criminals. This would cost the taxpayer £600,000 if they serve15 years of their full sentence. If, on the other hand you were part of that elite group of murderers serving true life sentences, which number just 38, then the sky’s the limit in terms of cost to the tax payer.

So rather than releasing these people early with the possibility of them continuing their bloody trade on the outside; why not bring back capital punishment? I am sure that both on safety and economic grounds the British people can be won over.

CRISPIN BLUNT quoted Winston Churchill in defence of his argument. It was a fallacious comparison simply because I believe that Churchill would have abhorred our modern times, and felt nothing but pity for the state of our country and its people today… ill-served as they are by this generation of politicians of the calibre of Mr Blunt. But this is not the point - one of my abiding images of Churchill was taken at the Siege of Sidney Street when he was the Home Secretary.

People in this country believe that while a criminal is in prison, it does indeed increase their safety. And like them I also believe this to be the case. It is only ‘progressive opinion’ that disputes this truism mainly because they believe in redemption for the criminal.

They also believe in something called ‘restorative justice’. This is where the victim is expected to confront their assailant - in order to help them? What is society asking of its law abiding people, that they should countenance such a request?

It appears that the victim’s only roll nowadays is to help their persecutor. What kind of society is it that allows such a thing. Would Winston have approved of ‘restorative justice’?

Crispin Blunt thought he was in tune with modern Conservatism when he made his comments. And he was right to so believe. David Cameron set out to change the ‘Nasty Party’ and transform it into a popular, unthreatening party.

Just as Labour were caught between the old class politics, and New Labour, which embraced the middle classes; so modern conservatism feels the need to follow the same route toward popularism.