Allegra Stratton

Allegra Stratton
Stratton in 2015
Downing Street Press Secretary
In office 8 October 2020 – 20 April 2021
Prime Minister	Boris Johnson
Preceded by	Rob Oxley
Succeeded by	Rosie Bate-Williams[1]
Personal details
Born	Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton (1980-04-10) 10 April 1980 (age 41) Nottingham, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	James Forsyth ​ (m. 2011)​
Children	2
Education	Latymer Upper School Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist writer

Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton (born 10 April 1980) is a British former political aide, writer, and former journalist who served as Downing Street Press Secretary under Boris Johnson from November 2020 to April 2021.

Stratton worked for The Guardian as a political correspondent until joining the BBC in 2012, where she was political editor of BBC Two's Newsnight from 2012 to 2016. She worked for ITV as national editor of ITV News from 2016 to 2018 and co-presenter of Peston on Sunday from 2016 to 2018.

After leaving journalism, Stratton became a Conservative Party political advisor. She was Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury from April until October 2020 when she became the press secretary for 10 Downing Street. In April 2021 she was appointed as spokesperson for COP26 President Alok Sharma. She resigned from this post in December 2021, after footage was released of her joking with colleagues about a Downing Street Christmas party at a press conference rehearsal during the COVID-19 lockdown in December 2020.

Early life

Stratton was born in Nottingham on 10 April 1980^[2][3] and brought up in Chiswick, West London as one of four children of a translator father and textile artist mother.^[4] She was named after Allegra Byron, a daughter of the poet Lord Byron.^[5] Stratton attended Chiswick Community School and Latymer Upper School, an independent school in West London, before studying at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where she read archaeology and anthropology.^[6][7]

Career

Journalism

Stratton worked as a producer for the BBC,^[8] on the foreign desk at The Times, and wrote for The Independent and the New Statesman.^[9] She then joined The Guardian as a political correspondent, presenting the newspaper's Politics Weekly podcast with journalist Tom Clark.^[10]

In 2006, Stratton published a non-fiction book, Muhajababes,^[11] that explored the youth culture of the Middle East and the contradictions of the modern life of young adults in Muslim societies.^[12][13] The book was based on Stratton's experiences of travelling in the region in 2005.^[11]

Stratton returned to the BBC on 20 February 2012,^[14] as political editor of Newsnight, replacing Michael Crick who left to become a political correspondent for Channel 4.^[15] In May the same year, she faced criticism for a Newsnight interview with a single mother who was claiming housing benefit. The interviewee described feeling "humiliated" by Stratton, who misrepresented her as unemployed.^[16] Private Eye magazine reported that Stratton had chosen the single mother over several other interviewees offered, including a couple with four children who had lost their jobs and faced homelessness.^[6] This incident led to a 20,000-signature petition soliciting an apology from Stratton and Newsnight.^[17] Following an official complaint to the BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit, a correction and apology was issued by Peter Rippon, the editor of Newsnight, in August.^[17][18]

In November 2015, the BBC announced that Stratton was leaving to join ITV News as its national editor.^[19] She made her first appearance on ITV's News at Ten in January 2016 and co-presented Peston on Sunday with Robert Peston until April 2018, when she departed to spend weekends with her children.^[20]

Government communications

Stratton left ITV News in April 2020 to become Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury under Chancellor Rishi Sunak.^[21] Six months later, in October 2020, she was given the newly created role of Downing Street press secretary, to present proposed televised press briefings^[8][22] initially scheduled for launch in November 2020. The briefings were subsequently delayed to January 2021 and it was reported that they would take place when the House of Commons was sitting on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.^[23] The January launch date was repeatedly pushed back due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and on 20 April it was announced that the briefings would be scrapped entirely, with Stratton instead becoming the spokesperson for the COP26 summit that was held in Glasgow in November 2021.^{[24][25][26][27]} In this role, she made comments that a diesel car suited her lifestyle better than an electric car, that rinsing plates prior to putting them in the dishwasher would help the environment and that the public should join the Green Party in order to combat the climate crisis. During the conference The Guardian reported she "stayed in the background" and had "an unclear role".^[28]

2020 Downing Street Christmas party controversy

On 7 December 2021, ITV News released a video, in which Stratton and other Downing Street staff – during a mock press conference on 22 December 2020 – made joking references to a Christmas gathering in 10 Downing Street four days earlier on 18 December 2020.^[29] In the leaked 47-second clip, filmed from the Downing Street Press Briefing Room,^[30] Stratton and other Downing Street staff joked about the "fictional party" being just "cheese and wine" and a "business meeting", with "no social distancing".^[31] BBC News reported that the event had "several dozen" attendees, and that "party games were played, food and drink were served, and the party went on past midnight".^[32] At the time of the alleged party, London was under COVID-19 tier 3 lockdown restrictions.^[32] The restrictions prohibited indoor gatherings of more than six people, with exceptions for certain work-related activities.^[33] The day after the ITV story was broadcast, Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised for the video at Prime Minister's Questions, describing himself as "furious" about it, but continued to deny that a party had taken place and declared that an investigation would be undertaken by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.^[34][35] Three hours later, Stratton resigned from her position as government spokesperson for the COP26 summit and apologised for her remarks which she asserted she would regret "for the rest of [her] days".^[36][37]

Personal life

Stratton is married to James Forsyth, political editor of The Spectator magazine.^[4] The couple have two children and live in Canonbury, North London.^[38][39] Future Chancellor Rishi Sunak was best man at their wedding in 2011,^[4] and they and Sunak are godparents to each other's children.^[40]

In November 2020, Stratton told The Sunday Telegraph that despite voting for the Labour Party, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats in the past, she voted for Brexit and describes herself as "a Johnson Tory".^[41] She is said to be an ally and friend of Boris Johnson's wife, Carrie.^[42][43]

Publications

• Stratton, Allegra (2006). Muhajababes (first ed.). London: Constable. ISBN 978-1-84529-427-4.

References

External links

• "Guardian blogs | All guardian.co.uk blogposts". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
• "Allegra Stratton". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
• Profile: Allegra Stratton November 2020 profile on BBC Radio 4