A lawyer might seem an unlikely hero, but for many infected blood victims that’s exactly how they see the author of the public inquiry’s damning final report, Sir Brian Langstaff.
The former high court judge was appointed chair of the infected blood inquiry on 8 February 2018, and has spent the intervening six years painstakingly gathering documents and evidence.
On Monday, his big moment arrived as he took to the stage surrounded by more than 1,000 victims and their families in the grand Central Hall in Westminster, and, to a standing ovation, told them what they have been waiting nearly 50 years to hear: “This disaster was not an accident. People put their faith in doctors and the government to keep them safe – and their trust was betrayed.”
The softly spoken former judge turned around the room, which included many victims dressed in red T-shirts bearing slogans such as “infected blood, dying for justice”, and asked them to applaud everyone who contributed to the report and shared their stories.
It’s this humility that has characterised his approach to the inquiry. Langstaff rejected having the inquiry named after him, preferring instead to keep the focus on the victims.
As a QC, he specialised in clinical negligence, and has served as the chair and president of the Personal Injuries Bar Association.
Born in 1948, he was educated at George Heriot’s school, Edinburgh, and the University of Cambridge. He was called to the bar in 1971 and appointed Queen’s counsel in 1994.
As well as an interest in sports, current affairs, food and travel, Langstaff also cites mowing the lawn and bellringing as personal passions in his Who’s Who profile.
Victims and families have praised him for his compassion, and for his willingness to hold those in power to account for their role in the scandal.
The final report is not the first time he has done so. When Rishi Sunak, appeared before the inquiry, Langstaff received a round of applause from the audience for directly challenging him on delays to the compensation scheme.
Langstaff urged the prime minister to do anything he could “to reassure them, preferably by actions rather than by words – but either will do – actions preferably, that there will be the compensation which is just and fair and it will be delivered as soon as possible. Because if it troubles my conscience, I would think it would trouble the conscience of a caring government, and you have said that’s what you would wish to be.”
Langstaff has been working full-time on the inquiry since 2018, retiring from his role in the high court, to which he was appointed in 2005. There he had served as president of the employment appeal tribunal between 2012 and 2018.
It’s not the first health-related public inquiry Langstaff has been involved in. He worked on the Bristol Royal Infirmary inquiry, set up in 1998 to investigate the deaths of 29 babies while undergoing heart surgery in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
