Overview
Laura Kuenssberg is currently the well-known face of the BBC’s political programming. Having served for over 7 years as the BBC’s political editor, she has now become the host of BBC One’s flagship Sunday morning politics show.
Having spent many years in political Kuenssberg was the first female of BBC So felt was her presence during the 2010 General and subsequent coalition negotiations that fellow political , David Aaronovitch, coined the term ‘Kuenssbergovision’.
Beyond her reporting, however, relatively little is publicly known about Kuenssberg.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Laura Kuenssberg Salary
The BBC publishes the salary ranges of its highest-paid stars annually. In 2020, Kuenssberg’s salary was reported as £290,000. This was a £40,000 pay increase from the previous year.
Laura Kuenssberg Bias
As , Laura Kuenssberg has a duty to stay impartial, with anything that is considered less than impartial, becoming problematic for the publicly-funded .
Luckily for the BBC, Kuenssberg has stressed she would ‘die for ‘. Nonetheless, all sides of the political aisle have taken their turns complaining about Kuenssberg’s coverage.
Following the Brexit referendum and the 2016 in the US, Kuenssberg exclaimed in an interview with Press Gazette, that the ‘world is on acid’. Following this, Brexiteer, and Brexit supporting newspapers such as the Daily Express, accused Kuenssberg of ‘Remainer’ Bias.
Martin Keatings, convener of the pro Scottish independence campaign group ‘Forward As On’, complained to BBC Director-General Tim Davie about a Kuenssberg article entitled ‘The UK Government’s Scottish independence dilemma’. According to Keatings, the piece contained a biased reading of the Scotland Act 1998. Mr Keatings declared that Holyrood had the power to legislate for a public vote on independence without the need for the UK Government’ consent, Kuenssberg had stated that government consent was required.
Further allegations of bias, have come from the left-wing of the Labour Party. Party activists and even MPs, accused the BBC and Kuenssberg of unfair coverage of then . At Labour’s 2019 General manifesto launch, Kuenssberg was booed as she rose to ask a question.
It has been reported these allegations of bias have on occasion turned to abuse, particularly on . In 2017, the BBC hired a bodyguard to accompany the to the believing Kuenssberg’s safety was under threat. In 2016, a was taken down by the website 38 degrees after claims that it had became a focal point for ‘sexist and hateful abuse’.
During Boris Johnson’s dispute with his former advisor, Dominic Cummings, it was claimed that Kuennsberg had been briefed by Cummings and was too often uncritically repeating his side of the story.
In July 2020 an interview that Kuenssberg conducted with prime minister Boris Johnson led to over 100 complaints being made to the BBC on grounds that she had overly interrupted Johnson and was this time displaying bias against the government.
Career Background
Kuenssberg began her career with and Cumbria in 2000 as a trainee . She became a political correspondent for the BBC in 2003, working across the , the Today programme, and Breakfast .
In 2009, she was appointed as the BBC’s chief political correspondent, before opting for ITV in 2011 to become their .
Kuenssberg returned to the BBC in 2014 as a on Newsnight. In 2015 she was appointed as the .
Kuenssberg stepped down from her role as the BBC’s Political Editor in May 2022. From September 2022 she will present the BBC’s main political show on Sunday morning, taking over from Andrew Marr. The prime time weekly politics show was previously hosted by Andrew Marr between 2005 and 2021, and by the late Sir David Frost between 1993 and 2005.
How old is Laura Kuenssberg?
The youngest of three children, Kuenssberg was born in Italy in August 1976 to Scottish businessman Nick Kuenssberg and his wife Sally.
Her paternal grandfather, Dr Ekkehard von Kuenssberg was the founder of the Royal College of General Practitioners; her maternal grandfather was the Scottish High Court Judge Lord Robertson.
Laura Kuenssberg’s older sister, Joanna Kuennsberg served as the United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Mozambique between 2014 and 2018.
Is Laura Kuenssberg married?
Kuenssberg is married to management consultant, James Kelly, about whom little is known. Having met at Edinburgh University, they currently reside in and don’t have any children.
Kuenssberg rarely touches on her home-life, but said in an interview with the Radio Times in 2019, ‘I read a lot of brilliantly awful fiction, 99p on iBooks fiction. I’m a fan of the kind of fiction that turns your head to candyfloss at the end of the day’. She also admitted to love ‘watching telly for telly’s sake’.
– @bbclaurak
