The humiliation of Jonathan Aitken (57), the former Conservative cabinet minister, who was once tipped as a future prime minister but instead became the object of ridicule, was sealed yesterday. After leaving prison in Kent, he was fitted with an electronic tagging device.
For the man who tried to sue the Guardian and Granada Television over reports that he lied about payments concerning his visit to the Ritz hotel in Paris in 1993, the tagging device marked an unsavoury end to his 18-month sentence for perjury and perverting the course of justice, of which he served seven months.
The electronic tag, attached to Mr Aitken's ankle, is linked to a monitoring box attached to the telephone line at the u £1.5 million Georgian house in Westminster he signed over to his wife, Lolicia, when they divorced. The tag will trigger an alarm at a central control if he does not comply with a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
But while Prisoner CB9298 may have been a model inmate during his time in Elmley jail, the former Conservative MP's political career will be particularly remembered for his fiery statement, made when he launched his doomed libel action in 1997.
Thumping the air in defiance, he declared: "If it falls to me to start a fight to cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism in our country with the simple sword of truth and the trusty shield of British fair play, so be it. I am ready for the fight."
The case against the Guardian and Granada collapsed as Mr Aitken admitted he had lied in the High Court when he had said his former wife, Lolicia, and not Saudi businessmen, had paid the bill at the Ritz.
Within minutes of the prison gates closing behind him, Mr Aitken's friends were quick to call on the press to allow him to rebuild his life, which includes studying theology at Oxford University later this year.
Mr Alan Duncan, a Conservative MP, said Mr Aitken had paid the price for what he had done. "He should now be left alone to rebuild his life without further press intrusion. This has gone on for three years now and no further hounding can possibly be justified," he said,
Another friend, the Conservative MP for Aldridge-Brownhills, Mr Richard Shepherd, denied suggestions that Mr Aitken, who is bankrupt, was considering training as a priest. "I know he is interested in religion, and is a devout Christian, but I don't think he will join the priesthood. He has a life to get on with. He has a family to look after as well," he said.
It is much more likely that Mr Aitken will seek an income from writing his memoirs or other books, which he needs to pay more than £1 million in legal costs owed to the Guardian and Granada. Reports yesterday suggested he spent part of his first day out of prison discussing the terms of an exclusive interview with a newspaper.
Mr Peter Preston, who was editor of the Guardian when it broke the story that prompted Mr Aitken's downfall, said he hoped the former MP would make some money from writing but he condemned the "sort of cult of celebrity" that had attached itself to his time in prison.
"I don't think that's right, I think what he did, which was an attempt at criminal conspiracy to defraud us and to pervert the course of justice, was a serious thing. He's paid the penalty for that and now we just ought to move on."