James Forsyth

The decisions of Crispin Blunt, the prisons’ minister, are hard to fathom. One wonders why-as the Daily Mail reports today — he allowed a man convicted of killing five people to give an unapologetic interview to a magazine. Blunt’s defence is that it wouldn’t have been right for him to stop it. That may be the case but that doesn’t explain his decision to send a press officer to assist with the whole procedure. Rehabilitating prisoners is vital if we are going to tackle crime in this country. But it is hard to see how this kind of thing — or parties in prison — help that noble aim. Rather they are actions that do nothing but upset the families of victims and undermine public confidence in the judicial system.

The facts of life are Conservative, as the old phrase has it. The events of the past few days have shown the urgent need for Tory social policies. The case for reforms to the police, welfare and education has been amply demonstrated.  Some in the government appear to get this. But there is also an odd hesitancy about getting on the front foot. As Tim Montgomerie said yesterday, why wasn’t a minister put up for Question Time last night? They could have used the programme to push Cameron’s reform agenda.

I understand that the government’s view is that social housing tenants whose children live with them and are convicted of looting should be evicted from their homes. The law already allows for this, although only if the criminal act occurred within the borough in which the family lives, and the Department for Communities and Local Government is encouraging councils and housing associations to use these powers. Although, the final decision on any eviction would be for the courts. Personally, I think there might be a case for broadening this out. The problem with the current approach is that it lets off those dead-beat dads who take no interest at all in the upbringing and disciplining of their children.

There’s another resignation from the Murdoch empire tonight. Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton has left the building. But Hinton’s departure is related to his time in Britain as executive chairman of News International. Hinton was one of those at the company to testify to select committees that phone hacking was not widespread at the News of the World. There are two things to watch for after this announcement. First, how does it play in the States? If this scandal gets going over there, a much bigger profit centre for News Corp than here, then Murdoch might take drastic action. Second, if more senior people end up having to resign over this then they are going to have to have the surname Murdoch.