Jo Coburn

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Jo Coburn
Jo Coburn (53997983752) (cropped).jpg
Coburn at the 2024 Chiswick Book Festival
Born
Joanne Dawn Coburn

London, England, UK
Education University of Manchester (BSc)
University of Oxford (PgDip)
OccupationsJournalist, presenter, political correspondent
Spouse
Mark Flanagan
​
(m. 1998)​
Children2

Joanne Dawn Coburn (born 12 November 1967) is a British journalist who works for Times Radio. She has spent most of her career with BBC News, having been a regular presenter of Politics Live (and at one time also of Sunday Politics along with Andrew Neil). She was previously a political correspondent for BBC Breakfast and is also a former BBC political correspondent for London.

Contents

In the past Coburn has presented on BBC Radio 4 and also has guested on the weekend current affairs programme The World This Weekend as well as reviewing the Sunday newspapers on The Andrew Marr Show and occasionally being a relief presenter on the BBC News Channel.

Early life and education

Coburn was born in Hendon and educated at the North London Collegiate School, [1] an independent school for girls in northwest London, followed by the University of Manchester, where she studied History and German, and the University of Oxford, where she studied Middle Eastern politics. [2]

Career

Coburn worked for local radio stations in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. [3]

After working as a regional correspondent for BBC London for four years, Coburn joined BBC Breakfast in 2001 as a political correspondent.[ citation needed ]

She spent some time presenting on the BBC News Channel, and three months as presenter of BBC Radio 4's political events programme The World This Weekend . She also covered the 2007 French presidential election and the Treaty of Lisbon ratification process. In 2008, she was part of the press pack during British prime minister Gordon Brown's visits both to Afghanistan, and to Beijing for the closing days of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. [4]

Coburn joined BBC Two's weekday political programme Daily Politics in 2008, presenting the show alongside Andrew Neil on Thursdays. From January 2010, she took over Anita Anand's role, presenting four days a week while Anand was away on maternity leave. [5] Anand returned to the show in September 2010, meaning that 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, Sir George Young, Lynne Featherstone and Adam Price. In July 2011, Anand left the programme to present a new show on BBC Radio 5 Live, resulting in Coburn becoming a full-time co-presenter from September with Andrew Neil. [6]

Aside from presenting Daily Politics, Coburn was often employed by the BBC to host more general debates and interviews. During the 2015 general election campaign, she presented a live-audience Question Time -style debate with the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, in Birmingham. [7] On 9 January 2017, Coburn presented a live audience debate with a panel of guests in East Grinstead about the continued Southern Rail strikes; this was titled Southern Rail Crisis. [8] In the 2017 general election campaign, she presented a similar live audience debate with the Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley and the UKIP leader Paul Nuttall from The Bottle Yard Studios, Bristol. [9]

Coburn also presented a companion show, Politics Europe, and the regional opt-out, Sunday Politics London. Both Politics Europe and Daily Politics were axed in 2018, with the latter replaced by Politics Live , 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. [10] Her last Politics Live programme was on 22 May 2025. [11]

On 5 June 2025, Times Radio announced that Coburn would be joining it as a presenter. Her first programme was The Times at One on 16 June 2025. [12]

Coburn appeared on Paul Merton's team on Have I Got News for You for the Series 71, Episode 9 episode broadcast on BBC One on 29 May 2026. [13]

Personal life

Coburn is Jewish and is an active member of Ealing Liberal Synagogue. [14] [15] [16] [17] She is married to former Downing Street head of strategic communications Mark Flanagan [18] with whome she has two sons. [19] [20]

References

  1. ↑ "Jo Coburn". North London Collegiate School. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Jo Coburn". BBC Online. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  3. ↑ Jo Coburn at BBC Team Archived 19 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 25 April 2014
  4. ↑ "Jo Coburn's Daily Politics profile". BBC News. 4 September 2008. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  5. ↑ "Changing faces at the Daily Politics". BBC News. 17 December 2009. Archived from the original on 29 April 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
  6. ↑ "Anita Anand leaves BBC2's Daily Politics for 5 Live role". BBC News. 12 July 2011. Archived from the original on 24 August 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  7. ↑ Davies Boren, Zachary (18 April 2015). "General Election 2015: Nigel Farage to be quizzed by BBC audience after other leaders". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017.
  8. ↑ "BBC One – Southern Rail Crisis". BBC Programmes. Archived from the original on 9 May 2017.
  9. ↑ "BBC Election Questions 2017: Bristol' – recorded at The Bottle Yard Studios". The Bottle Yard Studios. 6 June 2017. Archived from the original on 21 October 2017.
  10. ↑ "Jo Coburn to step down from presenting Politics Live". BBC. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
  11. ↑ "BBC Politics Live, 22nd May 2025". BBC iPlayer.
  12. ↑ "Jo Coburn and Stephen Sackur join Times Radio". News UK. 5 June 2025.
  13. ↑ "BBC One - Have I Got News for You, Series 71, Episode 9". BBC. Retrieved 30 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "British Jews, Right and Left, Archive on 4 – BBC Radio 4". BBC.
  15. ↑ Jane Harrison (26 September 2013). "Synagogue celebrates 70 years in Ealing". Getwestlondon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 March 2017.
  16. ↑ "Shalom – Liberal Judaism – Ealing Liberal Synagogue" (PDF). Ealingliberalsynagogue.org.uk. September 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 October 2017.
  17. ↑ "New group welcomes women with Jewish connections". Chiswickw4.com. 12 June 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "Jo Coburn Biography". Biogs.com. Archived from the original on 17 June 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  19. ↑ "Programmes | Jo Coburn". BBC News. 31 January 2002. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  20. ↑ "Jo Coburn". BBC News. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
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