Is that all? So who are these naysayers doubting the ability of Chris to deliver to his timescale?

'The risk register is quite clear about what is involved. The 35 existing probation trusts are to be replaced by 21 government companies "delivering all functions subject to market competition", and the establishment of a new national public probation service to deliver the remaining 30% of the work involving public protection and high-risk offenders. It means transferring 18,000 employees to new organisations, reallocating 250,000 offender cases, recruiting 22 new management teams and merging more than 2,000 existing computer packages. All of this needs to be in place by October next year so that it is up and up and running by the May 2015 general election.

The justice minister, Lord McNally, told peers that Grayling intends to use existing powers in Labour's Offender Management Act of 2007 to "create and sell companies, and to transfer the delivery of a large proportion of the probation service to the private sector via contractual arrangements involving the formation and sale of a number of new community rehabilitation companies" '.

18,000 "new" private sector jobs, 18,000 "fewer" public servants.  On that basis alone this plan must surely be allowed to proceed, and without delay.   And as for the small matter of merging 2,000 existing computer packages, I am sure if a big enough carrot is dangled some private sector organisation with a proven track record will step up and deliver.