LETTERS On the side of the angels
Sir: So, the tat is out of the bag. Real Con- servatives have been brought out of the closet by Mr Bruce Anderson in his thought-provoking article (Politics, 18 Jan- uary). Real Conservatives, he tells us, do not believe in the rehabilitation of prison- ers. Yet the Minister for prisons, Ann Wid- decombe, has publicly expressed, in my hearing, support for the aforesaid rehabili- tation. And Ann Widdecombe, though a woman of strong religious conscience, is happy to be addressed as 'a tough cookie'.
Real Conservatives, Mr Bruce Anderson tells us, yearn for the restoration of capital punishment. Yet Mr Michael Howard, the hero of Mr Anderson's article, has repudi- ated it in these latter days. So we still don't quite know where we are.
It is worth recalling that last summer, when the then Lord Chief Justice led an assault on Howardism in the House of Lords, he was backed up by five former Conservative Home Office ministers including one former Home Secretary. More recently Mr Hurd and Mr Baker, for- mer Home Secretaries, and Sir Peter Lloyd, former Minister of State at the Home Office, have been sharply critical. Sir Peter has become chairman of the New Bridge for Ex-Prisoners which I myself founded. Mr Douglas Hurd has accepted the chair- manship, as Mr Anderson points out, of the Prison Reform Trust, whose views and those of Mr Howard could not be more sharply contrasted.
Today the judiciary, the prison gover- nors, the Prison Officers' Association, the probation service, successive chief inspec- tors of prisons and the criminologists are on one side. And on the other? A public emotion which has been ruthlessly exploit- ed by the tabloids and the search for votes at any price. The choice is, or should be, clear.
Longford
House of Lords, London SW1
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