Profile: Allegra Stratton - the face of No. 10’s new televised press briefings
Former BBC journalist to front US-style daily updates at Downing Street
Former BBC journalist Allegra Stratton is in the media spotlight after landing what some commentators are calling “the worst job in politics” - fronting No. 10’s new daily televised press briefings.
Stratton has served as director of strategic communications for Chancellor Rishi Sunak since quitting broadcasting in July, but is now leaving the Treasury to become Boris Johnson’s most high-profile spokesperson.
The No. 10 newcomer has “impeccable Tory connections” and “bucketloads of broadcast experience – a must for what’s likely to be a difficult job”, says The Independent says. She is married to James Forsyth - who is political editor at The Spectator, which the prime minister used to edit - and Sunak was best man at their wedding.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Now aged 39, Stratton kicked off her journalistic career as a producer at the BBC after graduating from Cambridge University. Following a spell as political correspondent for The Guardian, she returned to the BBC as the political editor of Newsnight, and also put in a stint at ITV News.
Stratton is no stranger to being in the media spotlight either. As Newsnight editor, she was at the centre of an outcry over the alleged humiliation of single mother featured in a report about the government’s cuts to benefits. The programme later issued an apology after more than 50,000 people signed a petition.
Stratton was appointed to the Downing Street briefings role, currently being filled by Johnson’s official spokesperson James Slack, after “impressing” the PM with her performance at the Treasury, says HuffPost.
But the task facing her is a tricky one. A Labour adviser told The Guardian that it was an “awful job”, while the newspaper notes that Stratton “arrives at a moment when the government is besieged by restive backbenchers sceptical about Covid restrictions, and facing fierce criticism over the way they are being communicated”.
The high-profile nature of the role has also triggered criticism from the opposition benches, with Keir Starmer arguing that the appointment risks “unbalancing the political discourse”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
-
IPPs: the prisoners serving never-ending jail sentences
The Explainer Sentences of 'imprisonment for public protection' (IPPs) have been widely condemned, but many are still in force
By The Week UK Published
-
What is Lammy hoping to achieve in China?
Today's Big Question Foreign secretary heads to Beijing as Labour seeks cooperation on global challenges and courts opportunities for trade and investment
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Is Britain about to 'boil over'?
Today's Big Question A message shared across far-right groups listed more than 30 potential targets for violence in the UK today
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
UK's Starmer slams 'far-right thuggery' at riots
Speed Read The anti-immigrant violence was spurred by false rumors that the suspect in the Southport knife attack was an immigrant
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
The Tamils stranded on 'secretive' British island in Indian Ocean
Under the Radar Migrants 'unlawfully detained' since 2021 shipwreck on UK-controlled Diego Garcia, site of important US military base
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
David Cameron resigns as Sunak names shadow cabinet
Speed Read New foreign secretary joins 12 shadow ministers brought in to fill vacancies after electoral decimation
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Britain's Labour Party wins in a landslide
Speed Read The Conservatives were unseated after 14 years of rule
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published