KEY POINTS:
Jonathan Aitken, a disgraced former Cabinet minister jailed for perjury, will be rehabilitated into the political frontline this week when he takes charge of a taskforce on prison reform that will help to formulate opposition Conservative Party policy.
In one of the most spectacular comebacks in recent British political history, which meets with the approval of senior members of the shadow cabinet, Aitken is to chair a high-powered group of criminal justice experts that will examine the crisis in Britain's prisons.
"It is a cause dear to my heart for obvious reasons," Aitken explained. "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."
Aitken, 65, who was jailed in 1999 for "calculated perjury" after lying in a libel action he brought against the Guardian newspaper, has been summoned back by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, whose Centre for Social Justice is advising the leader, David Cameron, on social issues.
The return of Aitken, who was accused by Justice Scott Baker at his trial of weaving a "web of deceit", marks a potentially dangerous step for the Tories.
Aitken served seven months of an 18-month sentence and was said to have committed a "gross and inexcusable breach of trust" in asking his daughter Victoria, then 16, to sign a false witness statement.
His libel case had collapsed two years earlier when the Guardian was able to prove that Aitken, formerly defence procurement minister, had lied in claiming that his then wife, Lolicia, had paid a bill at the Paris Ritz in 1993. The bill had been paid by Aitken's former business partner, Said Ayas, on behalf of Prince Mohammed, a son of the Saudi king.
Peter Preston, editor of the Guardian when it broke the story, said yesterday: "The difficulty, wading through oceans of irony, is trying not to appear sour, going on totally incredulous. Jonathan Aitken as adviser on Conservative prisons policy less than a decade after he was put away for the most egregious perjury? On the one hand, redemption doesn't come any more roseate. On the other, it's a bit rich."
Duncan Smith, who said it was time to move on for Aitken, believes the former playboy millionaire, who famously reduced Lady Thatcher's daughter Carol to tears when he abruptly ended their romance, is eminently suited to his new task.
"Everybody deserves a second chance, that is the whole philosophy of the Centre for Social Justice," Duncan Smith said. "I am a profound believer in never writing people off. We are now using Jonathan's experience as a way of getting the most from him and him making a positive contribution to society."
Aitken's policy group includes Professor Rod Morgan, who resigned as chairman of the Youth Justice Board in January after complaining that youth courts and young people's detention centres were being "swamped" with minor offenders, and Erwin James, a former lifer who writes for the Guardian.
They will examine why Britain has some of the highest reoffending rates in Western Europe.
Aitken says his prison experience will be crucial. It brought to an end what he called the "vaulting pride and passion" that prompted him to sue the Guardian and made him a more humble figure filled with admiration for prison staff.
INSIDE KNOWLEDGE
* Jonathan Aitken was a defence procurement minister and then chief secretary to the Treasury.
* He sued the Guardian over allegations that a Saudi businessman had paid for him to stay at the Paris Ritz in breach of ministerial rules.
* He was jailed for 18 months in 1999, serving seven months for "calculated perjury".
* Aitken asked his daughter Victoria, then 16, to sign a false witness statement.
* Aitken was the only member of the British Cabinet to be jailed in the 20th century.
* He was one of only three people in recent history to resign from the Privy Council.
- Observer