Prison pays

Just minutes before Theresa May played to the audience with a "tough on crime" speech that could so easily have been delivered by one of her many Labour predecessors, Mr Clarke was highlighting how such interventions had proved to be futile over the past 13 years and why a new approach is overdue. He's right.

Long enough in politics not to be perturbed by the length of conference ovations, Mr Clarke's approach was a refreshing change – an acknowledgement that prison is simply fuelling a culture of reoffending when inmates cannot even be bothered to get out of bed to undergo training, rehabilitation or help maintain the jail's upkeep.

Given how previous attempts to break reoffending have ended in failure, the Justice Secretary's suggestion

that prisoners should be forced to work, with the money used to compensate their victims, certainly deserves to be introduced and scrutinised.

Of course, it must not be a precursor to the most serious offenders being prematurely released. But it might – just – provide some much needed purpose to the lives of those career criminals who find themselves back behind bars within a year of being released from custody. If they become accustomed to working a 9am-5pm shift, they might not find employment in the real world so challenging. Indeed, not only will they benefit from the skills gained, but so will the public if it means fewer criminals on the streets.