Iain Duncan Smith’s welfare reforms have been dogged by controversy in recent weeks.

Ten days ago the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) he heads up was forced to deny distorting sanctions statistics to hide a rise in the number of penalties being imposed.

A successful complaint was made to the UK’s official statistics watchdog over how information is presented and the DWP was warned to ensure figures are “objective and impartial” in future.

Iain Duncan Smith again stood accused of misleading the public when welfare officials were forced to remove a series of concocted case studies from a benefits leaflet days later.

In the publication “Sarah” was quoted as being pleased at having been persuaded to draw up a CV under threat of sanctions. Meanwhile, “Zac” had not had payments withheld because “I had a good reason for not going to the meeting and proof of the appointment”.

The DWP was forced to concede “Sarah” and “Zac” did not exist and the images on the leaflet were stock photographs.

An online petition calling for Duncan Smith to quit was then launched and it has since been signed by more than 50,000 people.

The next day official guidance emerged that suggested the DWP accepts that sanctions can harm the health of benefits claimants.

It said: “It would be usual for a normal healthy adult to suffer some deterioration in their health if they were without: 1. essential items such as food, clothing, heating and accommodation, or 2. sufficient money to buy essential items for a period of two weeks.”

Then, on Sunday, it was revealed that procedures to assist DWP staff cope with benefits claimants who are threatening to take their own life had been issued to Scots call centre workers tasked with rolling out Universal Credit.

Iain Duncan Smith’s six-point plan which sets out how to handle suicidal callers is a stark admission that the Work and Pensions minister’s welfare reforms are pushing people over the edge.

Yesterday the DWP was forced to publish figures which show 2,650 benefit claimants died shortly after being found 'fit for work' between Dec 2011 and Feb 2014.

The data, compiled in response to freedom of information requests, also revealed that in the same period 50,580 recipients of employment and support allowance benefit (ESA) had died within 14 days of their claim ending.

In 2002 Duncan Smith was said to have been so affected by the poverty he witnessed during a visit to the east end of Glasgow he converted to ‘compassionate conservatism’ – a moment which entered the political lexicon as the ‘Easterhouse Epiphany’.

Last weekend the SNP MP for the area, Natalie McGarry, challenged him to return and see the havoc that his brutal welfare reforms have wreaked.

But instead of taking up the offer Iain Duncan Smith announced further benefits changes which would force thousands of seriously ill and severely disabled Scots to find a job because work is “good for your health”.

It is now beyond any doubt that the heartless work and pensions minister intends to press ahead with his pet project to overhaul the welfare state whatever the consequences.