I'm not a Tory, I despise much of what the Conservative party stands for. I hate their hard right, particularly Philip Davies MP. But I have always had a soft spot for Ken Clarke.
When he became Justice Secretary I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the opportunity to end Labour's decade of warehousing people. Much of what he wants to do has been frustrated by a mixture of lack of cash and the right wing press.
There is not a lot he can do about the former, but a couple of days ago he played a blinder on the latter.
This week it was announced an end to may the IPP sentences and a reduction in the number of people serving time on remand. For clarification IPP are Imprisonment for Public Protection orders. Basically prisoners who are given these sentences will not be allowed to be released until they can prove they are nothing more "than a minimal threat to public safety". The problem of course is that is quite a difficult thing to prove, sitting in a prison cell. So people sentenced for a crime of say 4 years may end up serving 20 or 30 years. This is extremely morally objectionable, and Ken Clarke obviously agrees.
However the right wing press and Labour were gearing up to have another go at Clarke over this. So he made a statement about how people should be able to stab burglars in their home. This "clarification" is nothing of the sort and would affect a handful of cases. But, the right wing press had to report the more sensational story rather than the more political nuanced IPP and remand story. The proposals have stayed intact. Well done Ken.
