Laura Kuenssberg: BBC appoints first female political editor

Name:

Laura Kuenssberg, 38

Why's she in the news?

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She's just been appointed political editor of the BBC, the first woman to take the role, replacing Nick Robinson. Director-general Lord Hall says she is an "exceptional journalist" who "will bring something extra to the role – something of her own style."

Personal background:

The youngest of three children, she was born in Italy to Scottish parents, Nick and Sally, who were always travelling because of his career in textiles. The family moved to Glasgow when she was two. "We always wanted to be back home when the kids' education started," Nick Kuenssberg, now in his 70s, told The Scotsman recently.

Education:

She studied history at Edinburgh University, leaving with a First. She has also spent a year at Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Career highlights:

She joined the BBC as a trainee journalist in 2000, working in Newcastle, and began covering politics three years later. She was soon appearing on TV so often, The Guardian reports, that one journalist coined the phrase "Kuenssbergovision". Between 2009 and 2011 she was the BBC's chief political correspondent. She then left for ITN to become their business editor, before returning to the BBC last year to work on Newsnight.

Salary:

Kuenssberg is already earning £200,000 a year, according to the Daily Mail, for her work on Newsnight: her new role will better "justify" that salary, says the paper.

Rivals:

The BBC had made it very clear that they wanted their next political editor to be a woman. That made Kuenssberg the favourite. Others who reportedly had a chance included Newsnight's political editor Allegra Stratton, Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman and BBC News special correspondent Lucy Manning.

Has her appointment been deftly handled?

No. BBC director of news James Harding was apparently on the phone to one of the losing candidates when Jonathan Munro, head of news-gathering, tweeted his premature congratulations to Kuenssberg. The Twitter message was deleted before official confirmation came through later yesterday.

How long will Kuenssberg last in the job?

Being the BBC's political editor is recognised as one of the toughest assignments in journalism. They are expected to offer intelligent commentary (albeit from home in their pyjamas) for Radio 4's Today programme from 7 am, and still be at it in Downing Street for the 10pm television news.

They tend to hold the job for up to ten years: her recent predecessors are John Cole (1981-1992), Robin Oakley (1992-2000), Andrew Marr (2000-2005) and Nick Robinson (2005-2015).

Both Marr and Robinson are still working for the BBC – the former presenting BBC1's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday mornings, the latter joining the Today programme to replace James Naughtie, who is standing down next year.

What's in her diary?

Her first big political story will be the Labour leadership election. Next year will see the election of a new London mayor to replace Boris Johnson. Then comes the EU referendum and – if David Cameron sticks to his guns – there'll be a Tory party leadership race before the 2020 general election. Who knows, there could be a second Labour leadership election within that time frame, too.

Family life:

She is reported to live with her husband, James, in east London. Her brother, David Kuennsberg, is a civil servant at the Department for Communities and Local Government and her sister, Joanna Kuenssberg, is Britain's High Commissioner to Mozambique.