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Anushka Asthana

Anushka Asthana

AS THE UK readies for a General Election, Anushka Asthana, Deputy Political Editor, ITV News will be running up and down the country in pursuit of a story that will have the nation turning into their TV sets. Asthana recently interviewed both main party leaders up and close and personal, look ing at how they ticked as people – rather just as politicians on their beat - for ITV’s Tonight programme. Asthana followed Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for over three months in an attempt to get an in-depth view of what drives the Labour leader politically.

To understand his political journey, she went to his old university in Leeds, asked about tax and immigration in a target constituency, and pressed him on climate action policies. She also made Starmer open up about his fears for his family and talk about his football obsession as an Arsenal fan - as he and his par ty aim to win the elections after 13 years. Asthana also had weeks of exclusive access to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to find out what kind of man the Conservative party leader is. This included attending a family breakfast at 10 Downing Street and a trip to Southampton, where Sunak was born and raised, visit the old Sunak family pharmacy, and see where his father worked as a general practitioner. She asked him some pointed questions like what will happen when he’s no longer PM, and Sunak was honest enough to say he’d love to spend more time with his kids. Born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, Asthana grew up in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. Her parents are doctors and emigrated to the UK from New Delhi, India, in 1975.


She points out that it was a difficult decision for them to make, to leave their family members and start life afresh in the UK. In fact, after she grew up her father told her that if he were to decide now he would have chosen to stay back in India as it has everything that the west can offer. Asthana attended the private Manchester High School for Girls and pursued economics at St John’s University, Cambridge. She joined the Observer newspaper in 2003 as a general report er and spent several months at The Washington Post in 2006 on a Lawrence Stern fellowship.

Then she served as a political correspondent for The Times, and she started working as a political correspondent at Sky News in 2013. Asthana was appointed joint political editor of the Guardian newspaper in December 2015. She was later made Guardian’s editor-at-large and hosted the daily news podcast Today in Focus. Asthana left the Guardian in 2021 and joined ITV News as deputy political editor. She works alongside political editor Robert Peston on ITV’s flagship political programme Peston.

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