Jonathan Aitken's diary: My life as a Christian outreach speaker

The last time I wrote for The Spectator I was sitting in a prison cell. I sent the then editor a poem called ‘The Ballad of Belmarsh Gaol’. Instead of printing it in the poetry column, Frank Johnson put it on the magazine’s cover. It received what is euphemistically called ‘a mixed reception’ — so mixed that I have never again tried my hand at verse. In those dark days 14 years ago I was wrestling with my self-inflicted agonies of defeat, disgrace, divorce, bankruptcy and jail. As I contemplated my non-future, its only certainty was that I would never again be in demand as a public speaker or as a political commentator in the media. But life is full of surprises. This autumn I am far busier in terms of speaking engagements, media appearances and column inches than I was when a Cabinet minister. This is due to an improbable combination of interests — the rehabilitation of offenders, outreach events and Margaret Thatcher.

So far this year I have given over 40 talks in or about prisons. This is because reforming the rehabilitation of offenders is a policy idea whose time has come. Having been a campaigner in this field for a decade, I am a strong supporter of Chris Grayling’s Transforming Rehabilitation strategy. His plans to open up the supervision of released prisoners to a new network of companies, charities, community groups and rejuvenated probation trusts offers a real prospect of bringing down the stubbornly high reoffending rates. Recidivism by a core group of mainly young criminals costs the taxpayer up to £20 billion. Grayling’s blueprint of new technology and new rehabilitation methods should make it possible to cut the reoffending rate by at least 10 per cent. That would mean a windfall for the Treasury and a transformation in the lives of thousands of offenders.