Clarke faces Tory wrath over prisons policy call

Mr Howard – who famously coined the expression "prison works" – said that he was "not convinced" by Mr Clarke's more liberal approach to penal policy.

"I think in order to protect the public, serious and persistent criminals need to be put in prison," he told the BBC Radio 4 PM programme.

"I think that is what conscientious judges and magistrates are doing at present and I think that is the best way of protecting the public."

Prime Minister David Cameron defended Mr Clarke's plans, saying that he was being forced to take radical action to deal with the "complete mess" that Labour had made of the the criminal justice system.

"I believe that prison can work, it is just not working properly at the moment," he told MPs at Prime Minister's Questions.

"If ever there was a part of our public services that needed radical reform to make sure prison does work, that's it."

However there was anger among Tory MPs after Mr Clarke used his first major speech as Justice Secretary to question the value of "banging up more and more people", suggesting it was a throwback to the Victorian era.

He said that sending offenders to jail often proved to be a "costly and ineffectual approach that fails to turn criminals into law-abiding citizens" and called for "intelligent sentencing" with a greater focus on rehabilitation.

Tory backbencher Philip Davies warned that Mr Clarke was out of step with ordinary Tory supporters who voted for the party at the General Election.