Labour, which won a landslide general election victory on Thursday, has promised to review sentencing after regaining office for the first time since 2010.
It has also inherited a ballooning crisis in Britain’s jails, and has already committed to keeping the previous Conservative government’s early release scheme in place to ease current levels of overcrowding.
Last week the Prison Governors’ Association, which represents 95% of prison governors in England and Wales, warned that jails were due to run out of space within days.
Details of the review are yet to be unveiled, but Mr Timpson’s appointment has offered an early signal that a change of approach may be on the cards in this area.
Sir Keir has appointed him a member of the House of Lords, allowing him to take up a post as prisons minister at the Ministry of Justice.
The businessman told a Channel 4 podcast in February that prison was a “disaster” for around a third of prisoners, and another third “probably shouldn’t be there”.
He said too many people being in prison for “far too long” was an example of “evidence being ignored because there is this sentiment around punish and punish”.
“We’re addicted to sentencing, we’re addicted to punishment,” he added.
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