Aitken returns to front-line
Disgraced former Tory Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken is to head a policy task force into prison reform, he has confirmed.
Mr Aitken is to lead a study for the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a think tank headed by Iain Duncan Smith which advises Conservative party leader David Cameron on social issues.
The 65-year-old was jailed in 1999 for perjury during a libel action but has today told the Observer of his return to front-line politics to head the CSJ study.
“It is a cause dear to my heart for obvious reasons,” he said.
“It is an assignment well worth taking extremely seriously. This isn’t an ego trip for me. This is a job to be done. I have a very good team who I think will help to do it well.”
Mr Aitken resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1997 so as to sue the Guardian newspaper over allegations that a stay at the Paris Ritz had been paid for by a Saudi businessman, in breach of ministerial rules.
Announcing the action, he insisted that the “simple sword of truth” would help him win.
However he was sentenced to 18 months in jail for committing perjury during the libel case, of which he served seven months before his release in January 2000.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith will formally unveil the appointment on Monday.
