Downing Street party: Who is Allegra Stratton and why has she quit?

The resignation of Allegra Stratton from her job as a senior government spokeswoman comes after a day of drama at Westminster, with the prime minister launching an investigation into whether Covid rules were broken at a lockdown party in Downing Street.

Ms Stratton has enjoyed a stellar broadcasting career but the two videos she will probably be remembered for will not be appearing on her show reel.

In the first, shot just under a year ago in the government's new briefing room at 9 Downing Street, she is seen laughing and joking with colleagues.

In the second, shot outside her home as she announced her resignation on Wednesday afternoon, tears stream down her face, as she tells of her sorrow and regret about joking and laughing with those colleagues.

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Up to this point, Ms Stratton - described by one former colleague as "good fun and ferociously intelligent" - had enjoyed a notable rise through the world of Westminster media and politics.

In December last year, the former Guardian, ITV and BBC journalist was gearing up to become the face of daily televised government briefings.

The plan at the time was for her to take questions on-camera, as happens with White House briefings in the US.

But the government decided not to go ahead with the briefings and Ms Stratton was moved to being the government's spokeswoman for November's COP26 climate change conference, earning between £125,000 and £129,999 a year.

She has now resigned from the government following an angry public backlash over the video, obtained by ITV, which was never meant to be seen by the public.

'Not socially distanced'

The PM's spokespeople had spent a week insisting no party had taken place, and all Covid guidelines had been followed, at a time when London was under strict Covid restrictions.

In the video, Ms Stratton is seen rehearsing how to take questions from journalists with No 10 colleagues.

Her colleague, Ed Oldfield, asks her whether the PM could "condone having a cheese and wine party" in Downing Street. Stratton stumbles over her answer and laughs, saying: "Is cheese and wine all right? It was a business meeting...and it was not socially distanced."

Before the video emerged, the 41-year-old Westminster insider was not a household name, but had built a reputation as a skilled political broadcaster, and someone who liked to be seen as ethical in their journalism.

In a 2013 profile for the Evening Standard, she says the best piece of advice she has received was from "Patrick Wintour, my old boss at The Guardian, [who] said: 'It's as important to be good as to get a good story'."

'Power couple'

Ms Stratton is married to James Forsyth, political editor of the Spectator magazine. The then future Chancellor Rishi Sunak, a school friend of Mr Forsyth, was the best man at their wedding in 2011, with many other leading politicians and journalists in attendance.

Ms Stratton and Mr Forsyth, who have two children, have been described as one of Westminster's foremost "power couples".

Dominic Cummings and Lee Cain both quit following a Downing Street power struggle in which Allegra Stratton was involved

Ms Stratton, the daughter of a translator and a textile artist, grew up in west London, attending state and private schools.

She studied archaeology and anthropology at Cambridge University, going on to be a producer at BBC Two's Newsnight.

In 2006, while in her mid-20s, she wrote a book based on her travels in the Middle East. Titled Muhajababes, it describes the experiences of women of similar age to her who, despite being highly educated, were struggling to find jobs.

It was certainly not a problem that plagued Ms Stratton. Having gained some experience in broadcasting, she left the BBC to become a political reporter at the Guardian, rising to the role of political correspondent.

Following Michael Crick's resignation as Newsnight's political editor, she returned to the programme in early 2012 as the programme's political editor. In September that year she apologised for wrongly suggesting during a report that a working single mother was unemployed and living off benefits.

'Johnson Tory'

She left for ITV in 2015, in the new role of national editor. While there, she co-presented the political talk show Peston on Sunday.

In April 2020, Stratton left broadcasting again to work for the government, joining the Treasury.

After a few months as the chancellor's director of strategic communications, she moved to 10 Downing Street as press secretary.

Despite having worked for the pro-European Guardian, Ms Stratton told the Daily Telegraph that she had voted for Brexit and regarded herself as a "Johnson Tory".

Towards the end of last year, she became involved in the Downing Street power struggle that ended in the departure of communications director Lee Cain and the PM's most senior adviser, Dominic Cummings.

And, after taking on the COP26 role, Ms Stratton was criticised in August for telling Times Radio that she continued to use a diesel car for long journeys to Scotland, Wales and Gloucestershire for family reasons.

In her resignation statement, delivered outside her north London home, a tearful Ms Stratton apologised for what happened at the practice briefing back in 2020, saying: "My remarks seemed to make light of the rules, rules that people were doing everything to obey.

"That was never my intention. I will regret those remarks for the rest of my days and I offer my profound apologies to all of you at home for them."

Who is Ed Oldfield?

The other Downing Street staffer who features the ITV video is special adviser Ed Oldfield.

During the practice press conference, he plays the role of a journalist, asking Ms Stratton what she would say if there were reports on Twitter about a "Downing Street party on Friday night".

Mr Oldfield became the PM's special adviser (Spad) in July 2020. Spads are appointed to provide political advice to ministers which it would be inappropriate for politically neutral civil servants to give.

He also worked for the prime minister's 2019 campaign to become Conservative leader. After this he worked for the party itself as a junior press adviser and then broadcast officer - part of his job being to call journalists with whose work the party was unhappy with - from September 2019 to March 2020.

Mr Oldfield, who earns between £40,500 and £60,500 a year, worked for two years at the communications firm Hanbury Strategy from 2017 to 2019.