Daily Mirror appoints Mail’s John Stevens to replace Pippa Crerar as political editor

Daily Mirror political editor John Stevens. Picture: Reach

The Daily Mirror has appointed John Stevens as its new political editor, succeeding Pippa Crerar.

Stevens has been deputy political editor at the Daily Mail since 2017 when he was described as “a star in the making”. He has spent 12 years at the Mail titles in Glasgow, New York, Cambridge and London.

He described the political editor role, which he will start in the autumn, as his “dream job” coming at an “incredible moment in British political history” as the Conservative party prepares to appoint a new leader and prime minister.

Stevens added: “The Mirror’s brilliant political team has led the pack at Westminster in the past year. I cannot wait to get started.”

Stevens was shortlisted for the Politics Journalism prize at the 2021 British Journalism Awards for revealing then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was on holiday and “too busy” to help British troops’ Afghan translators during the fall of Kabul.

Mirror editor-in-chief Alison Phillips said: “John is a proven story getter who has broken exclusive after exclusive, including the revelations about Dominic Raab’s holiday at the height of the Afghan withdrawal crisis, and we are delighted to welcome him to the Mirror.

“In the last few years the Mirror’s political coverage has set the pace in Westminster. We have an outstanding team focussed on breaking stories and holding power to account. Under John’s leadership I am confident the team will reach new heights.”

Crerar, who has been Daily Mirror political editor for four years, joined from her role as Guardian deputy political editor and is rejoining that newspaper in the political editor role, succeeding Heather Stewart.

She has led a team at the Mirror that currently includes associate editor Kevin Maguire, deputy political editor Ben Glaze, online political editor Dan Bloom, deputy online political editor Lizzy Buchan, Whitehall correspondent Mikey Smith and political correspondent Aletha Adu.

Crerar at the Mirror was the first to reveal in November last year that Downing Street staff held three lockdown-breaching gatherings in November and December 2020. The paper continued to lead the way on Partygate for months alongside other outlets including ITV News, The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Crerar and Mirror colleague Jeremy Armstrong also broke the story of former No 10 aide Dominic Cummings’ lockdown journey to Durham alongside The Guardian’s Matthew Weaver. Both won Scoop of the Year at the 2020 British Journalism Awards.

Picture: Reach