The Daily Star has returned to the lobby, the body of political journalists based at the UK Parliament, after six years without a pass.
Reporter Alex Brown, who joined the tabloid in August 2017, received his lobby pass last week after a long approval process.
Brown, who specialises in politics and crime for the newspaper, tweeted a photo of himself outside Parliament on Friday (pictured), saying: “After years of negotiating, we finally have a deal. The Daily Star are in the lobby.”
The Star’s previous lobby-based journalist wasn’t replaced after leaving.
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The tabloid, owned by Reach since last year, will remain “apolitical”, editor Jonathan Clark told Press Gazette, but will increase its coverage of political issues that are relevant to its readers.
Clark added: “Alex Brown has a very keen interest in politics and applied for the lobby pass after he was made permanent at the Star. It was only issued last week, but since then he’s regularly been at Westminster asking politicians questions that most papers aren’t.
“While others report endlessly on Brexit, he’ll be using our pass to quiz politicians on the subjects that matter to Daily Star readers such as knife crime, the ongoing problem of reality television suicides, and the impact of swine fever in China on local businesses and food prices in the UK – not least our beloved bacon butties.
“The Star will remain apolitical, but the lobby pass will be crucial in increasing our coverage of these political issues that are of interest to and affect our audience.”
The UK political lobby has more than 300 members from national, regional, online and international news organisations.
Picture: Alex Brown
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