The Commissioners

The Chair of the Commission is ex officio the Speaker of the House of Commons, but by convention he or she does not participate in the conduct of the review or formulation of the Commission’s recommendations.

The Deputy Chair therefore leads the Commission in the conduct of its review work and is supported by two other Commissioners and 16 Assistant Commissioners. You can read more about the Assistant Commissioners here.

Sir Jonathan Swift (Deputy Chair)

Jonathan Swift was educated at Southend High School for Boys, New College Oxford, and Emmanuel College Cambridge. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1989. From 1989 to 2018 he practised from 11 King’s Bench Walk Chambers, specialising in employment law and public law. From 2007 to 2014 he was First Treasury Counsel. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2010. In 2018 he was appointed to the High Court bench. He sits in the King’s Bench Division. Between 2020 and 2024 he was Judge in Charge of the Administrative Court.

Colin Byrne

Colin Byrne worked for over 30 years in the Civil Service in a number of roles.  These included Divisional Manager, Health and Safety Executive; Director, Town and Country Planning, Department of Communities and Local Government; and Director, Government Office for the South East. He was the Lead Assistant Commissioner for the South East of England in the BCE’s 2018 Review. He was a governor of the Guildford College Group for eight years, and a trustee of Citizens Advice Guildford.  Currently he is a non-executive director of a local specialist housing association. He was appointed a Commissioner of the BCE for a five-year term from 1 July 2019.

Sarah Hamilton

Sarah Hamilton graduated from Exeter University with a BA(Hons) in Law in 1992. She was admitted as a Solicitor in 1995 and enjoyed a 20-year career in a City law firm, specialising in litigation, acting for public sector bodies. Retiring from private practice in 2016, Sarah now has a portfolio career in the fields of healthcare, education and regulation. She chairs Fitness to Practise Committees for three healthcare regulators. She is an Assessor for the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board. She is also the Independent Complaints and Standards Reviewer for the Independent Press Standards Organisation. Sarah worked as the Lead Assistant Commissioner for the East of England in the BCE’s 2018 Review  and was a Commissioner for the 2023 Review.

The Commission meet regularly and you can read the papers and minutes from their meetings.

Code of Conduct and Register of Interests.

All Commissioners are required to comply with the principles set out in the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Commissioners also maintain a Register of Commissioners Interests and declare their annual fees and expenses in the Commission’s Annual Reports.