 Ideologically, he identifies as a socialist and has been described as being on the soft left within the Labour Party.After qualifying for the bar, he acted exclusively as a defence lawyer specialising in human rights issues, before being appointed as a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2002.In 2008, he became Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), holding these roles until 2013.