IN TONY BLAIR’S

government there was a plan for a new team of ‘super bobbies’ who would be offered cash incentives to stay on the beat rather than be promoted into desk jobs. Nothing came of it, of course, but that never harmed Justin Russell, who was one of the political advisers at the Home office which dreamed up the idea.

Russell is now director General, Prisoner and offender management Policy at the ministry of Justice (MOJ) on a six-figure salary. He’s working for Justice Secretary liz truss, who is seen as way out of her depth by many MPS.

With the ministry’s blessing, Russell is advertising for 30 ‘policy officers’ — yes 30! — on salaries of up to £40,000, plus the usual goldplated civil service pension and perks. the recruitment spree will cost around £2 million a year at a time when prison-staff shortages have been blamed for riots at bedford prison and an inmate was murdered in Pentonville, from where two convicts also escaped.