Herbert Scores Triumph in Prisons Policy Announcement

Now THIS is the sort of policy announcement every Conservative can get behind. Well thought out, properly costed and an initiative which actually does something to address the problem. Nick Herbert has played a blinder today, totally outfoxing Jack Straw. Indeed, so desperate was the Justice Secretary to scupper the Tory announcement that he got his Special Adviser to try to set up a spoiling exercise over the weekend. The only trouble was, the poor little SpAd couldn't quite pull it off. So when that didn't work they resorted to the tried and tested tactic of saying the Tories were copying Labour's plans, and then followed it up by accusing them of proposing uncosted policies - which was a bit of a tactical error, in that if they were copying government proposals how could they possibly be uncosted? Oh dear. Herbert 3 Straw 0.