In correspondence to Sir Brian Cubbon, a Home Office minister, in 1982, Lord Lane wrote: “I would never release Brady …this is the case, if ever there is to be one, when a man should stay in prison till he dies. My initial views about Hindley were the same, but there are material differences between the two cases. I have modified my views to some extent, but I do not think that any term less than 25 years would be appropriate.”Hindley has served 29 years.Late editions of the Independent disclosed yesterday that Hindley was told on Thursday of a secret decision made in 1990 by Lord Waddington, then Home Secretary, to keep her in prison until she dies. Despite the views of the judges and of a group of ministers who decided “provisionally” in 1985 that Hindley should serve 30 years, Lord Waddington decided she should never be released.Hindley and Brady were convicted of the murders of Lesley Anne Downey and Edward Evans in 1966. In 1987, Hindley confessed to her part in the killings of Pauline Reade, Keith Bennett and John Kilbride.Yesterday, Hindley, 52, received visits from her solicitor, Andrew McCooey, and her priest, Fr Bert White, at Cookham Wood Prison, Kent.

She also spoke by telephone to her counsellor, Joe Chapman, who said: “I expected her to be depressed but she was very positive and determined that this would not be the end of the road. There were no tears.”It is thought the letters of Lord Lane and Mr Justice Fenton Atkinson, and the fact that ministers had previously thought 30 years was sufficient punishment, might form the basis of an application for judicial review.Text of letters, page 3. Some senior civil servants at the Treasury are set to receive individual payoffs of more than £300,000 as part of a redundancy programme which will see a quarter of the senior jobs in Whitehall’s most powerful department axed by next April. The payoffs are likely to prove controversial at the end of a week in which British Gas has been under fire for seeking to cut the wages of its showroom staff while justifying a 75 per cent pay increase for its chief executive, Cedric Brown.
Eight of the Treasury’s 24 under-secretary posts, will go, carrying salaries of between £54,000 and £64,000. So will 15 of the 64 assistant secretary posts which pay between £37,000 and £56,000. The Treasury’s management board will now consider how many of the more junior posts should be shed.Sir Terry Burns, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, told a meeting of senior mandarins yesterday that the job cuts would be achieved as far as possible by voluntary redundancy. But some employees have already been told informally that their services are no longer required and officials believe sackings are inevitable as the “right” candidates are unlikely to apply.

The cost to the taxpayer will run into millions.The generosity of the redundancy terms depends on people’s age, salary and the length of time they have been in their current posts. Some senior officials are set to receive a pay-off equal to five times their salary, with some officials in their mid-30sexpecting around £100,000.The announcement was broadly in line with the recommendations of a “fundamental expenditure review” into the Treasury’s operations ordered by Michael Portillo when he was Chief Secretary to the Treasury. The review was masterminded by Sir Terry and Jeremy Heywood, who was Norman Lamont’s right-hand man during his period as Chancellor.The review has devastated morale at the Treasury, already damaged by Britain’s expulsion from the European exchange rate mechanism and the failure of Treasury economists to predict the depth of the recession.With the prospect of possible redundancy looming, many officials have been trying to find jobs in the City or private sector consultancies.Some top officials fear the job cuts will mean that the Treasury will not be able to carry out adequately its key tasks of managing the economy and controlling government spending.Elizabeth Symons of the First Division Association, which represents senior civil servants, warned that cutting jobs could turn out to be a false economy if outside consultants had to be brought in to do the work. “If a minister uses a consultant to do the job of a full-time under-secretary, it will not show up in the running costs,” she said..

Tony Blair yesterday promised more modernisation of policy to consolidate Labour’s appeal to disenchanted Tory voters after his party’s victory in Thursday’s Dudley West by-election. The Government’s defeat with a 29 per cent swing to Labour – one of the biggest this century – led to a right-wing backlash against John Major. The Prime Minister admitted the poll was a “very poor result” for the Government but said voters were “unusually volatile”.
“I think some good can come out of it, providing people realise within the Conservative Party that we are all pulling in the same direction,” he said. “There is no doubt a great deal is going right economically and in other ways, but the message simply isn’t getting through.”Right-wingers immediately demanded the reinstatement of the whip for the nine Tory rebels, and a return to Thatcherite policies, including tax cuts.The Labour leader was jubilant at his party’s breakthrough in one of the key Midlands seats, but warned Labour not to be complacent about winning new supporters from the Tories. Labour will sharpen its appeal to them with a spring offensive on law and order, the welfare state and the economy and by scrapping Clause IV and launching a membership drive to change the party culture.Mr Blair said: “It is absolutely essential that we, of course, rejoice in a very substantial victory but that we carry on with the process of change that has brought us such benefits.”There is deep disaffection from the Conservatives. They like what they see of the Labour Party,our ideas, the direction we are heading.

but we have got to carry on that process and we have to deepen that bond of trust. Far from this victory being a reason for slowing the pace of modernisation and reform, it’s the reason for continuing with it.”Right-wing anger, page 2Andrew Marr, page 13. Gibraltar yesterday caved in to growing pressure from Britain over its failure to implement anti money laundering and corruption directives from the European Union. The Chief Minister, Joe Bossano, announced in Gibraltar that the directive would go into effect to head off a crisis with Britain. The Foreign Office said it had no confirmation of the plans but found the report “encouraging”.
The Independent reported on Wednesday that London had given Gibraltar until the end of next month to implement the directives or face sanctions that could lead to it being ruled directly. High-level talks take place on Monday between the Spanish Foreign Minister, Javier Solana, and British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, on the future of Gibraltar.The controversy over the money-laundering and other EU directives has overshadowed those negotiations.