Nick Cohen's brilliant article (Comment, last week) exposes the threat to British justice and public safety from the government's plans to privatise the probation service. A genuine success story would be sacrificed in pursuit of Tony Blair's schoolboy crush on big business.

However, the plans could be defeated in the House of Commons if David Cameron performs his public duty and leads the opposition to bad government policy and if the dozens of Labour MPs opposed to them vote with their convictions.

MPs of all parties should consider two questions: are they prepared to entrust the management of dangerous and violent offenders in their constituencies to an inexperienced private company just because it has prepared a plausible business plan? And they should remember that probation officers collect intimate personal information, not only about offenders but also about their families and victims.  Would MPs be prepared to hand over their personal secrets to Group 4 Security or any other private business? And if not, why should their constituents?