TORY defector Shaun Woodward is to lead the Government's war on drugs in schools.

The Witney MP, who caused uproar when he defected to Labour last year, will be responsible for getting youngsters to talk about drugs. He is a former director of the charity Childline.

The appointment came after an anti-drugs summit in which Prime Minister Tony Blair met Whitehall drugs "tsar" Keith Hellawell. Latest figures show a big rise in drug-related crime.

Mr Blair wants new ideas for spreading the anti-drugs message in schools. A Downing Street spokesman said: "We want to use Mr Woodward's expertise with Childline.

"He will be in charge of the area covering schools and work with Keith Hellawell. We want to get children to talk about drug abuse so we can do something to stop it." Yesterday, Mr Hellawell denied that his ten-year strategy to tackle drugs was failing.

Nearly 128,000 drugs offenders were either fined, cautioned or jailed in 1998, most for the possession of cannabis.

The amount of cocaine seized was up by a quarter and the amount of ecstasy-type drugs rose by nine per cent.

Though the number of seizures of heroin and cannabis was up, the amount seized in both cases was down, the figures showed.

After his meeting with Mr Blair, Mr Hellawell said the figures showed they were clamping down on drugs with the arrest of more offenders.

Mr Woodward was unavailable for comment.

Story date: Thursday 17 February

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