Disgraced Aitken in comeback

DISGRACED former Tory Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken is to be rehabilitated back into the political front line by leading a study into prison reform.

Aitken will head a policy task force for think-tank the Centre for Social Justice, which advises Tory leader David Cameron on social issues. The appointment is likely to be seen as a remarkable comeback for Aitken, who was jailed for 18 months in 1999 for "calculated perjury" during a libel action.

He resigned as Chief Secretary to the Treasury two years earlier so he could sue the Guardian over allegations that a Saudi businessman had paid for him to stay at the Paris Ritz in breach of ministerial rules.

Last night, 65-year-old Aitken confirmed he would be heading the study for the CSJ. "It is a cause dear to my heart for obvious reasons," he said.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who runs the think-tank, is to unveil the appointment tomorrow.

Duncan Smith said it was time to rehabilitate Aitken, who conducted numerous confessional-style media interviews after leaving prison - where he claimed to have rediscovered the Bible.

"Everybody deserves a second chance, that is the whole philosophy of the Centre for Social Justice," Duncan Smith said.