THE new Director of Public Prosecutions was at the centre of his first political controversy last night after criticising as “grotesque” the effect of plans by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, for longer minimum jail sentences.

The comments by Ken Macdonald establish him as a serious penal reformer and are likely to infuriate still further the Westminster critics who opposed his appointment.

Mr Macdonald, QC, appointed to the job last month, also claimed that some lengthy jail terms for drug offenders were too tough and did not act as a deterrent to others.

In a broadside against politicians — made at the general meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Penal Affairs in July, just before his appointment was confirmed — he accused both Labour and Conservative ministers of learning from America that tough rhetoric on law and order reaped a political advantage in votes.

In minutes of the meeting seen by The Times, Mr Macdonald also expressed his alarm at the soaring jail population which has risen by 13,000 since Labour came to power and added that he was “pessimistic” about reducing numbers in 138 jails in England and Wales.

His comments, along with his opposition to moves to curb jury trial, show Mr Macdonald as a man who is critical of key aspects of the Government’s flagship Criminal Justice Bill currently going through Parliament.

Mr Macdonald’s alarm at the long-term effects of the Home Secretary’s plans for longer minimum jail sentences for murderers is disclosed only weeks before the proposal is debated in the House of Lords.

The plan will meet strong opposition in the Lords, with leading lawyers giving warning that Mr Blunkett is attempting to tie the hands of judges on the sentences they can impose.

Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice, has already given warning that the effect of longer sentences for murders will have a knock-on effect in the justice system, with increased sentences for other offenders.

Mr Macdonald backed the Lord Chief Justice, saying that the proposed sentencing for murder would make the situation “much worse”, particularly in jails. He said that the effect on the prison population, currently at 73,030 in England and Wales, would be “grotesque”.

The next DPP added that the sentencing proposals in the Criminal Justice Act would have an “extraordinary effect on the numbers in jail”.

Minutes of the meeting record Mr Macdonald adding: “This would have an extraordinary effect on the prison population but particularly on the long-term prison population, which may be the most difficult to manage.”

Under Mr Blunkett’s proposals there will be a three-tier classification of murders with sadistic child killers or terrorists dying in prison; a minimum 30-year starting point for killing a policeman in the line of duty and a 15-year starting point for other murders. The terms are far higher than those set out by Lord Woolf last year.

In the address, made as Mr Macdonald was being considered for the £145,000-a-year post as DPP and head of the Crown Prosecution Service, he said that the rise in the jail population indicated that Britain was going down the American route on penal policy.

The minutes also reveal that Mr Macdonald expressed concern at American influences on penal policy and accused politicians of “nurturing” misconceptions about sentences.

He said it seemed that British politicians had learnt the rhetoric of American crime and punishment. Successive Home Secretaries had paid lip service to shorter prison sentences and less custody while all their public rhetoric had been in the opposite direction.

Mr Macdonald, a founder member of Matrix chambers where Cherie Booth, QC, works, said that the reason for politicians acting this way was that the political benefits of the rhetoric were seen to outweigh principle.

Mr Macdonald, who takes up his post in November, said that in some drug cases the length of jail terms was “inappropriate”. He said that jailing African women who carried drugs to the United Kingdom for up to 15 years did not achieve anything. It did not act as a deterrent because the women thought they would leave their village for only a few days and had no idea what might happen if they were caught. He added that the climate in the media was “pretty punitive” and that this translated itself to actions taken in courts.

He said that while judges did try not to be “populist”, they had to be seen to be responsive to public concerns, even though those concerns could be ill-founded.

Mr Macdonald made the remarks in his role as chairman of the Criminal Bar Association. His remarks will fuel the controversy surrounding his appointment, which brought accusations of “cronyism” because he is a member of the same barristers’ chambers as Ms Booth.

Simon Hughes, Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: “It is very important that the views of the new DPP are known to the public and are known in Government.

“It is not too late for influential people in the criminal justice system to help to make major changes to the Criminal Justice Bill currently going through the Lords.”

Ann Widdecombe, a Conservative member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “The lesson from the United States is that if you take tough action along with the rhetoric you can produce results.”

She added: “It is extraordinary that someone who is criticising the Home Secretary in this way, has accepted an appointment, and will have to implement the policies.”

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