Laura Kuenssberg

Laura Juliet Kuenssberg (born 8 August 1976) is a British journalist. She is currently the Political Editor of BBC News, succeeding Nick Robinson in July 2015 and is the first woman to hold the position.[1][2]

Laura Kuenssberg
Kuenssberg in 2012
Born	Laura Juliet Kuenssberg (1976-08-08) 8 August 1976 Italy
Nationality	British
Education	Laurel Bank School
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh Georgetown University
Occupation	Journalist
Notable work	BBC News; Brexitcast
Home town	Glasgow, Scotland
Title	Political Editor of BBC News (2015–present)
Spouse(s)	James Kelly
Relatives	Joanna Kuenssberg (sister) Ekkehard von Kuenssberg (paternal grandfather) Lord Robertson (maternal grandfather) Sir James Wilson Robertson (great-uncle)

Early life and education

Kuenssberg was born in Italy in 1976 to Nick and Sally Kuenssberg.[3] Her father is a businessman and her mother worked in children's services and received a CBE for this in the 2000 New Year Honours.[4][5] Her paternal grandfather was Ekkehard von Kuenssberg, a co-founder, and president of the Royal College of General Practitioners.[6] Her maternal grandfather was the Scottish high court judge Lord Robertson and his brother Sir James Wilson Robertson was the last British Governor-General of Nigeria. Her older brother David is executive director of finance and resources at Brighton and Hove City Council.[7] Her elder sister Joanna Kuenssberg is a former diplomat who has served as high commissioner to Mozambique.[6]

Her father worked in Italy for British company Coats Viyella for a number of years.[8] Kuenssberg grew up in Glasgow, with her brother and sister,[9] and attended Laurel Bank School, a private girls' school.[10]

Kuenssberg studied history at the University of Edinburgh, followed by a journalism course at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.,[11] where she worked on an NBC News political programme.

Career

After returning to the UK, she worked for local radio and then cable television in Glasgow, before joining BBC North East and Cumbria in March 2000 as a trainee journalist. Kuenssberg won a regional Royal Television Society award for her work as home affairs correspondent,[12] and produced segments for the social affairs editor Niall Dickson.

Appointed chief political correspondent for BBC News, Kuenssberg reported for BBC One bulletins, Daily Politics and BBC News. In May 2010, her presence was so ubiquitous in the period between the general election and the formation of a coalition government under David Cameron, that journalist David Aaronovitch coined the term "Kuenssbergovision".[13]

In September 2011, Kuenssberg took up the newly created role of business editor for ITV News, and was replaced at BBC News by Norman Smith from BBC Radio 4. She also contributed towards business reporting on ITV's current affairs strand, Tonight.[14] On 27 August 2013, she made her debut co-newscasting News at Ten with Alastair Stewart

On 12 November 2013, it was announced that she would leave ITV to return to the BBC, as chief correspondent and a presenter of Newsnight, replacing Gavin Esler in the latter role. She joined the Newsnight team in February 2014.[15][16]

BBC Political Editor

She was appointed in July 2015 as the BBC's political editor, the first woman to hold the position.[17] In January 2016 Kuenssberg was involved in arranging for the Labour MP Stephen Doughty to publicly announce his resignation as a shadow foreign office minister on Daily Politics. The incident was the subject of an official complaint from Seumas Milne, the Labour Party's director of communications, which was rejected by Robbie Gibb, then the BBC's head of live political programmes.[18]

In December 2016, Kuenssberg said a source had told her that the Queen had made comments supportive of leaving the European Union during a private lunch at Windsor Castle. She initially decided not to report the comments because the BBC generally requires a story to have two sources before it can run.[19]

During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump, Kuenssberg recalled a number of controversial statements Trump made on the campaign trail, and asked Trump if he had anything to say to UK viewers "worried about you becoming the leader of the free world?" Trump responded, "That's your choice of a question? [To May] There goes that relationship."[20]

In March 2019, Kuenssberg presented a documentary, The Brexit Storm: Laura Kuenssberg's Inside Story, for BBC Two.[21] Her role in the reporting of Brexit negotiations was the subject of an article in The Times Magazine of 30 March 2019.[22]

On 17 December 2019, she presented a second documentary film, The Brexit Storm Continues: Laura Kuenssberg's Inside Story, which covered Boris Johnson's arrival at Downing Street through to the 2019 general election.[23]

Bias allegations

Following the 2016 local elections, a petition was started on 38 Degrees which accused Kuenssberg of being biased against the Labour Party and its leader Jeremy Corbyn, and called for her dismissal.[24] The petition was later withdrawn by David Babbs, executive director of 38 Degrees, who cited concern that it had become a "focal point for sexist and hateful abuse made towards Laura Kuenssberg" on other social media websites such as Twitter although it was acknowledged that this represented "the actions of a small minority".[25][26]

In January 2017 the BBC Trust ruled that a report in November 2015 by Kuenssberg broke the broadcaster's impartiality and accuracy guidelines. A viewer had complained about her item, which featured an interview with Jeremy Corbyn on the BBC News at Six which gave the incorrect impression that Corbyn disagreed with the use of firearms by police in incidents such as that month's terrorist attacks in Paris. His purported answer to a question as broadcast in the report was in fact his reply to a more general (unbroadcast) question, not specifically about that terrorist attack.[27] The BBC Trust said that the inaccuracy was "compounded" when Kuenssberg went on to state that Corbyn's message "couldn't be more different" from that of the prime minister Theresa May, who was about to publish anti-terrorism proposals. The trust said that accuracy was particularly important when dealing "with a critical question at a time of extreme national concern."[27] Nevertheless, the BBC Trust found no evidence that there had been any intention to mislead, and their ruling was that the footage "had been compiled in good faith."[28] The Telegraph published a front page story about Kunnensburg in 2017 with the headline “the most divisive woman on TV today?”[29]

In September 2019 Kuenssberg received criticism for her portrayal of Omar Salem, a father who confronted prime minister Boris Johnson about the government's treatment of the NHS, as "a Labour activist."[30] Salem defended Kuenssberg, saying that she was doing her job "without fear or favour which is a vital part of democracy. I don't think 'Labour activist cares about NHS' is a huge scoop though...".[31]

In the 2019 United Kingdom general election, Kuenssberg was accused of bias, in various campaign incidents, alongside criticism of the BBC's election coverage. On 11 December, one day before the 2019 general election, she drew controversy by claiming on air that submitted postal votes, apparently viewed by both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party, were "looking pretty grim for Labour in a lot of parts of the country."[32][33] Viewing postal votes prior to polling day is in breach of guidelines set by the Electoral Commission[34] and predicting electoral outcomes based on votes cast prior to polls closing may be a criminal offence.[35][36] The footage was subsequently withdrawn from BBC iPlayer, while the episode of Politics Live in which the incident happened was withdrawn and removed from the BBC Parliament schedule.[37] The BBC News press office tweeted: "Regarding today's Politics Live programme, the BBC does not believe it, or its political editor, has breached electoral law."[38] The Metropolitan Police Service later confirmed that there was "no evidence of any criminal offences having been committed." [39]

She faced criticism for tweeting the personal blog of Dominic Cummings, the government's chief strategist, and thus broadcasting his message unadulterated.[40] She was also condemned for incorrectly tweeting that a Labour activist had punched a Conservative Party advisor, without verification; footage was released showing this was untrue and she later apologised and retracted her tweet.[41] On 3 March 2020, however, the BBC's Executive Complaints Unit stated that "It found no evidence of political bias nor that Laura Kuenssberg had failed to check the story before publication."[42]

Bodyguard

In a July 2017 Spectator article, Charles Moore wrote of being told "informally" that Kuenssberg had received protection from a bodyguard during the 2017 general election. The BBC had believed her safety was under threat because of online abuse considered to be mainly from supporters of Jeremy Corbyn.[43][44] The BBC refused to comment about the story. The Labour politician Yvette Cooper defended the BBC's political editor: "It's her job to ask difficult questions. It's her job to be sceptical about everything we say". By the end of the campaign, Kuenssberg was also being abused by some Conservative and UKIP supporters.[44][45]

At the September 2017 Labour Party conference in Brighton, Kuenssberg was accompanied by a security guard.[46] Journalist Jenni Russell, a former BBC editor herself, was quoted in The New York Times about the issue affecting Kuenssberg: "The graphic level of threats to women is quite extraordinary and it’s one of the worst things to have happened in recent British public life."[47] The bodyguard also accompanied her to the October 2017 Conservative Party conference in Manchester.[48]

At a November 2017 gathering in London, Kuenssberg said that the trolls were attempting to silence her.[49]

Awards

In November 2016, Kuenssberg was awarded Broadcaster of the Year by the Political Studies Association. The prize was in recognition of her contribution to the public understanding of politics, especially surrounding the June 2016 EU Referendum and subsequent developments.[50]

At the British Journalism Awards organised by Press Gazette in December 2016, Kuenssberg received the Journalist of the Year award.[51] "Kuenssberg deserves this prize for the sheer volume and scope of reporting on some of the biggest changes ever in British politics" said the judges, pointing especially to her coverage of the EU membership referendum and its aftermath.[52]

Kuenssberg was named in the Evening Standard's 2019 list of the top 20 'most influential Londoners'.[53]

Personal life

Kuenssberg is married to James Kelly, a management consultant.[6]

References

1. "BBC names Laura Kuenssberg as BBC political editor". BBC News. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
2. Plunkett, John (22 July 2015). "Laura Kuenssberg confirmed as the BBC's first female political editor". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
3. Saner, Emine (29 September 2017). "Laura Kuenssberg: BBC titan who would 'die in a ditch for impartiality'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
4. "Sally Kuenssberg, CBE". BBC Scotland. 31 December 1999. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
5. Kristy Dorsey (4 March 2013). "Business interview: Nick Kuenssberg". The Scotsman. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
6. "How political editor Laura Kuenssberg broke the mould to become the BBC's Brexit guru". The Times. 30 March 2019.(subscription required)
7. "Meet the council's new finance boss – and his famous sister". The Argus. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 28 September 2017.
8. "Nick Kuenssberg". caplus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
9. "Nick Kuenssberg". Frost's Scottish Who's Who. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
10. Mclellan, John (6 October 2016). "Is the art of flyting still in rude health?". The Herald. Glasgow. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
11. "Laura Kuenssberg: BBC appoints first female political editor". The Week. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
12. "Royal Television Society – RTS in your area". Archived from the original on 25 September 2006.
13. Aaronovitch, David (13 May 2010). "New Politics is here. Now let's have new votes". The Times. London. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
14. "ITV announces Laura Kuenssberg as Business Editor". London: ITN. 22 June 2011. Archived from the original on 25 June 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
15. Is Labour facing Glasgow upset? BBC News, 11 November 2009
16. Plunkett, John (13 November 2013). "BBC Newsnight recruits ITV's Laura Kuenssberg". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
17. "Laura Kuenssberg has been appointed the BBC's new Political Editor". BBC Media Centre. BBC. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
18. Watt, Nicholas; Sweney, Mark (8 January 2016). "BBC justifies decision to allow Stephen Doughty to resign live on Daily Politics". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
19. Mason, Rowena (26 December 2016). "Laura Kuenssberg says source told her the Queen backed Brexit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
20. Mortimer, Caroline (27 January 2017). "Donald Trump says 'there goes that relationship' when asked a difficult question in press conference with Theresa May". The Independent.
21. Power, Ed (1 April 2019). "The Brexit Storm: Laura Kuenssberg's Inside Story, review: a compelling refresher course that made its topic seem fresh". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
22. The Times Magazine; 30.03.19, pp. 18-23
23. McKay, Alastair (17 December 2019). "The Brexit Storm Continues: Revelations are few in Laura Kuenssberg's Inside Story". Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
24. Jackson, Jasper (10 May 2016). "Campaign to sack BBC's Laura Kuenssberg accused of sexism". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
25. Jackson, Jasper (10 May 2016). "Laura Kuenssberg petition taken down over sexist abuse". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
26. Babbs, David (11 May 2016). "We took down the Laura Kuenssberg petition to show sexist bullies can't win". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
27. Martinson, Jane (18 January 2017). "BBC Trust says Laura Kuenssberg report on Corbyn was inaccurate". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
28. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/appeals/esc_bulletins/2017/jan.pdf
29. Saner, Emine (29 September 2017). "Laura Kuenssberg: BBC titan who would 'die in a ditch for impartiality'". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
30. "Furious backlash against BBC over tweet about father of sick child". 18 September 2019. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
31. "BBC defends Laura Kuenssberg over tweet about father who criticised Boris Johnson in hospital". 19 September 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
32. "Why the BBC needs a social media overhaul". www.newstatesman.com. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
33. "Election watchdog's warning after Kuenssberg's postal vote comments". Evening Standard. 11 December 2019.
34. Part D - Absent voting; UK Parliamentary elections in Great Britain: guidance for (Acting) Returning Officers (PDF) (Report). Electoral Commission. November 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
35. Gregory, Andy (11 December 2019). "BBC's Laura Kuenssberg may have broken electoral law by speculating about postal votes, Electoral Commission indicates". The Independent. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
36. "Representation of the People Act 1983". www.legislation.gov.uk.
37. "BBC Two - Politics Live, 11/12/2019". BBC.
38. "Laura Kuenssberg may have broken electoral law by speculating about postal votes, Electoral Commission indicates". The Independent. 11 December 2019.
39. "Met Police clear Laura Kuenssberg, 04/03/2020". Evolve Politics.
40. Oborne, Peter (3 December 2019). "In its election coverage, the BBC has let down the people who believe in it | Peter Oborne". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
41. "Laura Kuenssberg under fire for 'punch' claim". talkradio.co.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
42. "Tweet by Laura Kuenssberg 9 December 2019". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
43. "BBC's Laura Kuenssberg was 'given a bodyguard' during general election campaign". The Telegraph. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
44. Simpson, Fiona (14 July 2017). "BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg 'given a bodyguard' after abuse by online trolls during election campaign". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
45. Roberts, Rachel (14 July 2017). "BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg 'given bodyguard' following online threats". The Independent. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
46. Fisher, Lucy (25 September 2017). "BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg gets bodyguards". The Times. Retrieved 25 September 2017. (subscription required)
47. Kingsley, Patrick (27 September 2017). "Why the BBC's Star Political Reporter Now Needs a Bodyguard". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
48. "BBC's Laura Kuenssberg to get bodyguard at Tory party conference". Yahoo News. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
49. Doherty, Rosa (1 November 2017). "'They are trying to silence me': BBC's Laura Kuenssberg on the trolls who attack her". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
50. "Broadcaster of the Year 2016 - Political Studies Association". Retrieved 30 November 2016.
51. "BBC's Laura Kuenssberg named journalist of the year". BBC News. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
52. Gayle, Damien (7 December 2016). "Guardian scoops three prizes at British Journalism Awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
53. "Laura Kuenssberg and Edward Enninful make top 20 'most influential Londoners' list". Press Gazette. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.

External links

• Laura Kuenssberg on BBC Online

Media offices
Preceded by None	Business Editor: ITV News 2011–2013	Succeeded by Joel Hills
Preceded by James Landale	Chief Political Correspondent: BBC News 2009–2011	Succeeded by Norman Smith
Preceded by Nick Robinson	Political Editor: BBC News 2015–	Succeeded by Incumbent