Longfield has set high bar for commissioners

In her last public address before handing over the role to academy trust chief Dame Rachel de Souza on 1 March, Longfield turned her ire on government officials for failing to properly engage in children’s issues, too often viewing them as “remote concepts or data points on an annual return”. Just a few weeks earlier, she lambasted ministers for their inaction on child poverty and warned of dire consequences if they continued to do so in light of the anticipated post-pandemic economic hardship.

A reflection of how Longfield’s star has risen is that her speech and its contents featured high on news bulletins and newspaper front pages. However, while the criticism of government caused a splash, it is the boost she has given to the role’s public profile that should be more long-lasting – she has appeared on BBC Question Time, made a Channel 4 documentary on the rise in elective-home education and sat on the Good Morning Britain sofa.