The announcement that James Timpson is the new Minister for Prisons, Probation and Parole was one of the few surprises – and one of the biggest – announced by Sir Keir Starmer as he assembled his new Cabinet.
Unlike his brother Edward – an established and well-liked and respected Conservative MP – James has no previous experience as a politician. So why has he been given what is, in my view, the most difficult job in UK Government?
Perhaps it is because he is not a politician. He has built a genuinely socially minded business, the chain of Timpson service retailers across the UK, whilst gathering a formidable level of expertise and credibility in the lives of prisoners, while retaining the straightforward social media handle "JamesTCobbler".
