Skip to main contentSkip to footer

Laura Kuenssberg makes rare comment about her 'fair' salary

The BBC News star opened up to the Radio Times

laura kuenssberg close up
Diane Shipley
Senior Online Writer
Share this:

The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg has spoken about her salary in a rare personal interview.

As she works for a public broadcaster, the 44-year-old's salary details are made public, and 2019 records showed that she earned between £220,000 and £229,000.

READ: BBC News' Laura Kuenssberg makes extremely rare comment about husband

When asked about her income in a recent interview with the Radio Times, she responded: "I’m well rewarded for a job I massively enjoy doing. I think I’m paid very fairly."

Laura took on her high-profile role in 2015 and in the years since has been at the centre of coverage of the government's handling of everything from Brexit to the coronavirus pandemic.

WATCH: Carol Kirkwood opens up about the terrible accident

The Scot went on to say that the job doesn't leave her much time for herself, however, commenting: "I work long hours. I work very, very hard. I haven’t had time for a haircut in four months. That’s where we are at the moment, I’m like Rapunzel."

Having formerly covered health and crime, Laura said she didn't expect to become the broadcaster's foremost political expert.

She confessed: "It was not my burning ambition to work in Westminster, to spend all my time hanging out with people who work in politics."

laura kuenssberg boris johnson© Photo: Getty Images

Laura has been the BBC's political editor since 2015

Speaking about the corporation's decision to hire her, she said: "They wanted to bring people in who weren’t politics obsessives, who didn’t already have a whole network of friends and contacts in politics, which I didn’t."

The star did, however, complete a postgraduate journalism qualification at Georgetown University in Washington DC following her graduation from the University of Edinburgh.

RELATED: BBC News' Naga Munchetty shocks with fun new look

During her time in the U.S, she worked on a political programme for American network NBC.

Laura's husband, management consultant James Kelly, also studied at the University of Edinburgh and it's thought that he undertook further studies at Harvard University.

The notoriously private presenter doesn't like to give away many details about her love life, however, and when asked whether she was the romantic type, responded: "You'll have to ask my husband that."

Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.