Louise Casey promoted to role of victims' commissioner

Louise Casey, Tony Blair's "respect tsar" subsequently cast into outer darkness by Gordon Brown, has been formally rehabilitated by Brown in perhaps one of his final acts. She has been appointed victims' commissioner by the government following an open competition. Casey, currently at the Home Office, tends to speak in a language that ordinary people understand, but has managed to remain a civil servant at the same time, no mean feat. And as part of his journey as prime minister, Brown has come to recognise the political importance of being tough on antisocial behaviour. The job of victims' commissioner – an upgrade from the current victims' champion Sara Payne, is designed to rebalance the relationship between the criminal and the victim inside Whitehall. Her appointment also means that she will be in a powerful position if the Tories arrive at the Ministry of Justice and decide they don't like her tendency to put victims' rights before human rights.