Author and anchor Emily Maitlis has become Newsnight’s most recognisable face

She has served as a political editor and presenter on the BBC programme.

The BBC has said a Newsnight introduction, delivered by Emily Maitlis, which discussed the Dominic Cummings lockdown row, broke its impartiality rules.

Maitlis, 49, took over as lead anchor on the BBC Two show in 2019, with Newsnight veteran Kirsty Wark moved into a new role on the programme.

Previously, Maitlis acted as a political editor and presenter on the current affairs show, and has covered numerous elections for the BBC.

Maitlis was born in Hamilton in Canada to British Jewish parents, and her paternal grandmother was a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany.

She was brought up in Sheffield and was educated at the King Edward VII School before going on to Queens’ College, Cambridge.

Maitlis is fluent in Spanish, Italian and French, and speaks some Mandarin.

She was reportedly in the running to take over as Question Time host following the departure of David Dimbleby in 2018, although the job went to Fiona Bruce.

In 2019, she released her first book titled Airhead: The Imperfect Art Of Making News, which detailed her interviews with the likes of the Dalai Lama and Alan Partridge.

The same year, she made headlines for her exasperated “side-eye” during an interview with Labour MP Barry Gardiner.

In February 2020, her interview with Prince Andrew won interview of the year and scoop of the year at the Royal Television Society Awards.

The interview saw her grill Andrew over his relationship with billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.