Whitehall Correspondent

The Telegraph is looking for an experienced political reporter who can bring in exclusive stories as well as cover day to day political events such as debates and votes.

They should be confident working across print and online platforms to ensure The Telegraph has the best political coverage.

The Whitehall Correspondent must be able to identify the best political stories of the day, and how to move those stories on as necessary.

Candidates should be able to show a clear ability to set the agenda by breaking stories.

The Whitehall Correspondent works closely with the rest of the lobby team, as well as with news editors and other news reporters and specialists.

Key Responsibilities

The Whitehall Correspondent is expected to provide high quality, accurate coverage of political events and find agenda-setting exclusives.
They will be required to cover events such as debates, votes, speeches, political visits, elections and party conferences. They will be expected to travel around the country and overseas as necessary, filing from the road.
The successful candidate for this role will progress to writing front page stories and articles which lead the website.
The Whitehall Correspondent should already have good contacts within government, parliament and all major political parties, but will be expected to maintain these contacts and develop and maintain further contacts.
They will be expected to write accurate, clear and concise news stories in house style.
They will be expected to meet tight deadlines and to organise their schedule around the deadline demands of the newsroom.
Under pressure, they are expected to identify the best line for a potential story and relay that information to the political editor or news editors clearly and concisely.
They are responsible for ensuring stories are accurate and legally compliant.
They are expected to have an understanding of the stories which attract readers online and that readers and subscribers to the Daily Telegraph are interested in. Through their articles, they will help the company to reach its goal of attracting and retaining more subscribers online.