Joanne Dawn Coburn (born 12 November 1967) is a British journalist with

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, a regular presenter of ''

Politics Live ''BBC Politics Live'' is a weekday BBC News lunchtime political programme which launched on 3 September 2018. It broadcasts when the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament is in session and during the three-week party conference season. T ...

'' (and formerly also '' Sunday Politics'' along with

Andrew Neil Andrew Ferguson Neil (born 21 May 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1983 to 1994. He has presented various political programmes on the BBC and on Channel 4. Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire ...

). She was previously a political correspondent for ''

BBC Breakfast ''BBC Breakfast'' is a British television breakfast news programme, produced by BBC News and broadcast on BBC One every morning from 6:00am. It is also broadcast on the UK feed of BBC News channel on weekends. The simulcast is presented live, ...

'' and is also a former BBC political correspondent for London, who covered the

2000 London Mayoral election The 2000 London mayoral election was held on 4 May 2000 to elect the Mayor of London. It was the first election to the office established that year; the idea of a mayor of a Greater London Authority (GLA) had been included in Labour's 1997 ele ...

. Coburn is an occasional relief presenter on the

BBC News Channel The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London from which it is anchored during ...

. She has presented on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in the past and also has guested on the weekend current affairs programme ''

The World This Weekend ''The World at One'' (or ''WATO'', pronounced "what-oh") is BBC Radio 4's long-running lunchtime news and current affairs radio programme, broadcast weekdays from 13:00 to 13:45 and produced by BBC News. The programme describes itself as "Bri ...

'' as well as reviewing the Sunday newspapers on ''

The Andrew Marr Show ''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021. The programme replaced the long-running ''Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when Dav ...

''.

Early life and education

Coburn was educated at the

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam ...

, an independent school for girls in northwest London, followed by the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, where she studied History and German, and the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where she studied Middle Eastern politics.

Career

Coburn worked for local radio stations in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire,Jo Coburn at BBC Team
. Retrieved 25 April 2014 including Mix 96

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...

, Fox FM

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, and Star FM in

Slough Slough () is a town in Berkshire, England, in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4, M40 and M25 motorways. It is part of the historic county of Buckinghamshire. In 2021, the ...

. After working as a regional correspondent for

BBC London BBC London is the BBC English Region producing local radio, television, teletext and online services in London, Surrey and parts of the surrounding areas of the Home Counties. Its output includes the daily '' BBC London'' news bulletin and w ...

for four years, Coburn joined ''

'' in 2001 as a political correspondent. She had first come to prominence when she covered events surrounding the

2000 London mayoral election The 2000 London mayoral election was held on 4 May 2000 to elect the Mayor of London. It was the first election to the office established that year; the idea of a mayor of a Greater London Authority (GLA) had been included in Labour's 1997 ele ...

, and she went on to cover the 2001 general election. During her time at ''BBC Breakfast'' she covered events surrounding the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

and the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, and returned from maternity leave in 2005 to report on that year's general election. She spent some time presenting on the

, and three months as presenter of

's political events programme ''

''. She also covered the

2007 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 21 and 22 April 2007 to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ''ex officio'' Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. As no candidate received a majority of the vot ...

and the

Treaty of Lisbon The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is a European agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by all EU member states o ...

ratification process. In 2008, she was part of the press pack during British prime minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

's visits both to Afghanistan, and to Beijing for the closing days of the

2008 Summer Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

. Aside from presenting ''Daily Politics'', Coburn has often been used by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

to host more general debates and interviews. In the 2015 general election campaign, Coburn presented a live audience '' Question Time''-style debate with the

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

leader,

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

, in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. On 9 January 2017, Coburn presented a live audience debate with a panel of guests in

East Grinstead East Grinstead () is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the northeast corner of the county, bord ...

about the continued Southern Rail strikes, entitled Southern Rail Crisis. In the 2017 general election campaign, Coburn presented a similar live audience debate with the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

co-leader

Jonathan Bartley Jonathan Charles Bartley (born 16 October 1971) is a British politician who was a Co-Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, a position he shared with Caroline Lucas from 2016 to 2018, ...

and the UKIP leader

Paul Nuttall Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...

from

The Bottle Yard Studios The Bottle Yard Studios is a British film and television production studio facility in Bristol, South West England. It is the largest dedicated production space in the West of England. As of November 2022, it has offered a total of 11 stages acro ...

, Bristol. On 5 June 2025 Times Radio announced that Coburn will be joining them as a presenter. Her first programme will be the Times at One on 16 June 2025.

''Daily Politics'' and ''Politics Live''

Coburn joined

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

's weekday political programme ''

Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' is a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January 2003 and 24 July 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas a ...

'' in 2008, presenting the show alongside

on Thursdays. From January 2010, she took over

Anita Anand Indira Anita Anand (born May 20, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer, academic, and politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada), minister of Foreign Affairs since 2025. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal Party, ...

's role, presenting four days a week while Anand was away on maternity leave. Anand returned to the show in September 2010, meaning Coburn returned to presenting on the programme one day a week, this time on Fridays. On 5 May 2010, Coburn joined Neil to present the final ''Daily Politics'' election debate, ''The Trust in Politics Debate'', before the 2010 general election. The debate featured contributions from

Harriet Harman Harriet Ruth Harman, Baroness Harman, (born 30 July 1950), is a British politician and solicitor who served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Chair of the Labour Party (UK), Chair of the Labour Pa ...

Sir George Young George Samuel Knatchbull Young, Baron Young of Cookham, (born 16 July 1941), known as Sir George Young, 6th Baronet from 1960 to 2015, is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (Un ...

Lynne Featherstone Lynne Choona Featherstone, Baroness Featherstone, (''née'' Ryness; born 20 December 1951) is a British politician, businesswoman and Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat List of members of the House of Lords, member of the House of Lords. ...

and

Adam Price Adam Robert Price (born 23 September 1968) is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016, having previously been ...

. In July 2011, Anand left the programme to present a new show on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

, resulting in Jo Coburn becoming a full-time co-presenter from September with Andrew Neil. Coburn presented the ''

'' on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and was joined by

on Wednesdays for coverage of

Prime Minister's Questions Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs, officially known as Questions to the Prime Minister, while colloquially known as Prime Minister's Question Time) is a constitutional convention (political custom), constitutional convention in the United Kingd ...

. In 2018, ''Daily Politics'' was renamed ''Politics Live'' with a refreshed format and a single lead presenter. Coburn also presented a companion show, ''Politics Europe'', and the regional opt-out, ''Sunday Politics London''. Both ''Politics Europe'' and the ''Daily Politics'' were axed in 2018, with the latter replaced by ''

'', which Coburn presented, alongside the continuing ''Sunday Politics London''. On 20 March 2025, she announced she would be stepping down as host and would be leaving the BBC after 28 years. Her last Politics Live programme was on 22 May 2025.

Personal life

Coburn is

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

and is an active member of Ealing Liberal Synagogue. She is married to former Downing Street head of strategic communications Mark Flanagan. They have two children and live in West London.

References

External links

Jo Coburn
at bbc.co.uk *
Q&A Jo Coburn
interview at TV Newsroom {{DEFAULTSORT:Coburn, Jo 1967 births Living people Alumni of the University of Manchester BBC newsreaders and journalists English Jews English political commentators People from Hendon People educated at North London Collegiate School Alumni of the University of Oxford