Bill Blair, QC, the brother of the former Prime Minister, has been made a High Court judge, it was announced yesterday.

A well-known banking and commercial silk, Mr Blair has had a low profile outside the Bar, unlike his sister-in-law, Cherie Booth, QC.

Ms Booth had been tipped for some time to be a High Court judge when her husband left office. But observers now think that the lure of the lecture circuit, coupled with an international legal practice, may be a more attractive option.

Mr Blair, 57, recently headed a Bar Council working party charged with drawing up the profession’s case on why it is in the public interest to maintain the elite rank of QC.

A quiet, reserved man, he shuns the limelight. He is married to Katy Tse and enjoys travel and walking.

Like his brother Mr Blair went to Fettes College and then to Oxford (Balliol College). Mr Blair was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1972 and took Silk in 1994. He was appointed a Recorder in 1998 and is a visiting professor of law at the London School of Economics. He was already approved to sit as a deputy High Court Judge and will now sit as a High Court judge in the Queen’s Bench Division.

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