Tories targeting social breakdown

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Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith has set up 10 policy groups to tackle issues like asylum, family breakdown and crime.

Former Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken, who was jailed for perjury, will lead a study into prison reform for the social justice think-tank.

Other inquiries will include housing, the courts and youth and gang crime, in the wake of the murder of Rhys Jones.

Mr Duncan Smith said it could take a generation to tackle the problems.

Comeback kid?

Mr Duncan Smith launched the Centre for Social Justice, which advises David Cameron on social issues, after he was deposed as Conservative leader in 2003.

He defended his decision to ask Mr Aitken to head up the prison reform taskforce, which will be examining options including post-release mentoring schemes that are used in New Zealand and some parts of the US.

PROPOSED POLICY GROUPS: AsylumHousingPolice reformCourts and sentencing reformPrison reformYouth and gang crime0-3s, early years interventionFamily lawLooked after childrenEconomic dependency <a class="" href="/1/hi/uk_politics/7090366.stm">Analysis: Tory justice drive</a>

Mr Duncan Smith said: "I make no apology. The CSJ (Centre of Social Justice), as an independent group, wants to have the real world experiences of people who know what it's like.

"We asked Jonathan for that very simple reason. On the group will be other people who have done time and come out and made something of their lives."

Earlier Mr Aitken told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the group would be looking at "more community involvement in prisons, more volunteers coming in to help with literacy of prisoners or the after-care of prisoners".

Asked if he was making a political comeback, he replied: "No, and I don't ever expect to.

"I made a bad mistake - I paid a heavy price for it and I expect to go on paying a price for it. And that's life and I have to live with that."

Mr Aitken resigned as chief secretary to the Treasury in 1995 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.

Launching the action, he insisted that the "simple sword of truth" would help him win.

'Wake-up call'

But the case collapsed in 1997 and Mr Aitken was later found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice in 1999.

He served almost seven months of his 18-month sentence before being released in January 2000.

Labour described Mr Aitken's appointment as showing the Tories were returning to their "disgraced, scandal-ridden past".

But Mr Duncan Smith told the Observer: "Everybody deserves a second chance - that is the whole philosophy of the Centre for Social Justice."

The former Tory leader also told the Daily Telegraph the murder of Rhys Jones in Liverpool and 20 teenagers in London this year was a "wake-up call for politicians of all parties".

"Family breakdown and school failure are important long-term factors in the growth of a violent and anti-social youth culture.

"We need to tackle these problems, even if it may take a generation before we can see the benefits."