Alison Phillips (born 1970) is a British journalist who served as the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

of the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

'' between 2018 and 2024.

Biography

Phillips grew up in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and first worked as a reporter for the ''Harlow Star'' Weekly Newspaper. She then attended the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

where she took a secondment for a year as the editor of the student newspaper (''Leeds Student'', now called ''

the Gryphon ''The Gryphon'' is the student newspaper of the University of Leeds. It is published monthly during term time and its editor, the newspaper's only paid position, is elected annually by Leeds University Union members. The articles are written ...

''). She then worked for the '' Evening Argus'' in Brighton, Connors News Agency and ''

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

'' before joining Trinity Mirror (now Reach) in 1998 as a feature writer on the ''

Sunday People The ''Sunday People'' is a British tabloid Sunday newspaper. It was founded as ''The People'' on 16 October 1881. At one point owned by Odhams Press, The ''People'' was acquired along with Odhams by the Mirror Group in 1961, along with the '' ...

'' magazine. In 2016, Phillips launched '' The New Day'', a national newspaper which aimed to deliver politically neutral news, primarily for a female audience. Its launch was sceptically received by media commentators. The new venture failed to reach target circulation and was closed two months after its launch. Later that year she was made Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Trinity Mirror papers.

''Daily Mirror''

In 2018, Phillips was named as the Editor of the ''

'', making her its first female editor since its very first editor in 1903, Mary Howarth. She often writes and speaks about gender equality and the

gender pay gap The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are Employment, employed. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct measurements of the pay gap: non ...

, including at her own company. She is a regular media commentator, often appearing on programmes such as 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 ...

's ''

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 ITV's '' This Morning''. In June 2018, she was a guest on BBC One's '' Question Time'', declaring that the

Brexit negotiations Between 2017 and 2019, representatives of the United Kingdom and the European Union negotiated the terms of Brexit, the UK's planned withdrawal from membership of the EU. These negotiations arose following the decision of the Parliament of th ...

had made Britain "a global laughing stock". In 2018 she was named a "Columnist of the Year" at the National Press Awards, for her weekly Wednesday column in the ''Daily Mirror''. The column often covers working-class family issues from a broadly left-wing perspective. Under her editorship, the ''Daily Mirror''s stance on

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

has been critical of the Conservative government, but remained opposed to calls for a second referendum. Phillips succeeded Eleanor Mills as chair of the Women in Journalism pressure group in February 2021. Phillips stepped down as editor-in-chief of the ''Daily Mirror'' at the end of January 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Alison 1970 births Living people People from Essex 21st-century British journalists British women journalists British newspaper editors Alumni of the University of Leeds