It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for the ministry of justice. First, the justice secretary announced that the courts should stop sending criminals to prison – before his own party reminded him that their manifesto said they were going to build more prison places. Then the hapless junior justice minister Crispin Blunt reversed our ban on parties in prisons – before Number 10 reversed his reversal and asked for the invites back. Now comes news that the government isn’t going to give rape suspects anonymity after all, despite saying they would only a couple of weeks ago. Bad news for the ministry of justice, but good news for tens of thousands of rape victims.

They tried to do it in a backhanded way – getting an anonymous source at the ministry of justice to sneak the news out to the Sunday Telegraph a couple of days before parliament breaks for the summer. But those infamous nine words didn’t leave much wriggling room. However you look at it, there’s no escaping the fact that this is the government’s first U-turn on a commitment made in the coalition agreement.

Originally the plan was to give rape suspects anonymity until conviction. Then it was watered down so that it would only apply up until charge. Now they’ve abandoned it all together – and not before time.

There was never any reason to single out rape suspects for special treatment. The evidence showed that there weren’t more false allegations of rape than there were of any other crime, and no one really believed that being accused of rape was worse than being accused of being a paedophile or a wife-beater. Women’s organizations told us that giving rape suspects anonymity would stop victims coming forward. And the police said the plans would hinder their investigations and stop them bringing violent criminals to justice.

The government has finally seen sense and decided to drop these dangerous plans once and for all – but only because we made it happen.

More than 30 MPs raised the plans in the Commons, well over a hundred signed the early day motion, and it was pushed at every conceivable opportunity: at justice questions, home office questions, and questions to the attorney general and the minister for women and equalities, through points of order and at the business statement, and even at prime minister’s questions. Written questions were tabled probing every aspect of the plans. Submissions were made to the ministry of justice. Backbenchers and frontbenchers alike took the government to task over these ill-thought through proposals. In the end the government had no option but to back down.

But given the confusion that’s reigned so far, with different ministers saying different things on different days, we do need to remain vigilant for another change of heart. But surely that would be one U-turn too many – even for this government.