Who is Laura Kuenssberg and why is her Boris Johnson interview cancelled?

The Scottish journalist and presenter admitted the blunder on Wednesday evening, saying that “it’s not right for the interview to go ahead”.

The interview with Johnson was originally set to air on Thursday evening.

In a post on Twitter/X, Kuenssberg wrote: “While prepping to interview Boris Johnson tomorrow, by mistake I sent our briefing notes to him in a message meant for my team.

READ MORE: John O'Farrell accuses Laura Kuenssberg of pushing 'gossip' on BBC

She continued: “It’s very frustrating, and there’s no point pretending it’s anything other than embarrassing and disappointing, as there are plenty of important questions to be asked.

“But red faces aside, honesty is the best policy. See you on Sunday."

Where is Laura Kuenssberg from? 

Kuenssberg was born in Rome, Italy, in 1976 to Nick and Sally Kuenssberg.

Her father, born in Edinburgh, was a prominent Scottish business leader and led textiles giant Dawson International in the 1990s when the then stock market listed group owned Pringle.

She grew up in Glasgow with her brother and sister and attended Laurel Bank School - an all-girls fee paying school.

(Image: BBC)She went on to study history at the University of Edinburgh, and interned at NBC during her studies.

Laura Kuenssberg's career at the BBC and ITV

Kuenssberg started off at BBC North East and Cumbria in 2001 and in 2009, was appointed chief political correspondent for the BBC.

Kuenssberg reported for BBC One bulletins, Daily Politics and the BBC News channel before being appointed the business editor for ITV News. 

In 2013, the journalist returned to the BBC as chief correspondent and a presenter of Newsnight.

In this time, she became known for her role on election coverage and later replaced Andrew Marr with her own flagship show, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Accusations of bias 

At times, Kuenssberg has been accused of being too close to government by her critics. She came under particular fire for appearing to defend the Prime Minister’s former senior adviser Dominic Cummings amid news that he’d driven from London to Durham during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

She has also been accused of “acting as an unofficial spokesperson” for Boris Johnson’s government after her report on the Tories’ plan to hike National Insurance (NI) contributions.

In March this year, experts told The Sunday National there was evidence of a “pro-establishment bias” within the BBC, underlined by the panellists invited onto Kuenssberg's  show in the six months since its first broadcast.

Analysis of the guests brought on to the panel to commentate alongside Kuenssberg – not those brought on to be interviewed – revealed that Tory MPs are twice as likely to be invited on as Labour ones.

Commentators with right-wing connections are also much more likely to feature than those with links to the left.

In December 2023, the BBC received more than 150 complaints linked to “bias” in favour of Michelle Mone and her husband Douglas Barrowman after the couple’s interview with Kuenssberg.