Allegra Stratton


Allegra Elizabeth Jane Stratton is a British journalist and writer. From January 2016 to April 2020, she was the national editor of ITV News after four years as political editor on BBC Two's Newsnight. She also co-presented Peston on Sunday with Robert Peston from 2016 to 2018.
In April 2020, she quit ITV News to become Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury.

Early life

Stratton attended Chiswick Community School and Latymer Upper School, an independent school in west London. She then attended Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where she read archaeology and anthropology.

Career

Stratton worked as a producer for the BBC, on the foreign desk at The Times and wrote for The Independent and the New Statesman.
She then joined The Guardian as a political correspondent, presenting the newspaper's "Politics Weekly" podcast with journalist Tom Clark.
During this period she wrote the novel Muhajababes, which explores the youth culture of the Middle East, which addressed the contradictions of modern life of young adults in Muslim societies.
Stratton returned to the BBC on 20 February 2012, as political editor of Newsnight, replacing Michael Crick who left to become a political correspondent for Channel 4.
In November 2015, it was announced that Stratton was leaving the BBC to join ITV News as its national editor. Stratton made her first appearance on ITV's News at Ten in January 2016. She co-presented Peston on Sunday, ITV with Robert Peston until May 2018.
In April 2020, she quit ITV News to become Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Director of Strategic Communications at the Treasury.

Personal life

Allegra Stratton is married to James Forsyth, political editor of The Spectator magazine. The couple live in Canonbury, north London.

Publications