Pippa Crerar
The Guardian
She has broken major exclusives, scrutinised politicians of all parties - and their policies - and analysed the fast-changing political landscape both in the run-up to the general election and the early months of the Labour government.
Her scoop that Rishi Sunak’s closest parliamentary aide, Craig Williams MP, was under investigation by the Gambling Commission for placing a £100 bet on the election date was one of the defining stories of the election campaign.
She went on to break further stories on the gambling scandal, including that more Tories were under investigation and that the Metropolitan Police would take on an expanded role in the inquiry.
Crerar championed the rights of women in Parliament to be safe in their workplace with her exclusive on the alleged victim of a serious sexual assault by a Conservative MP who accused the party of being more concerned with protecting its own reputation than her welfare, after it failed to formally investigate her complaint.
The woman’s mental health subsequently deteriorated to such an extent that party headquarters paid £15,000 for her to receive private hospital treatment. The story led to the Tories reviewing their internal complaints processes.
After the election, Crerar revealed that Kemi Badenoch, now the leader of the opposition, had been accused of bullying and traumatising staff in her former government department, leading to three senior officials feeling they had no choice but to leave their posts. She also discovered the former business secretary had asked to use taxpayers’ money to pay for a holiday flight.
With Keir Starmer looking increasingly like he was heading for government, Crerar scrutinised the Labour party in depth.
She has focused on policies as well as conduct, and was first to reveal that Starmer was planning to scale back Labour’s £28bn green prosperity plan amid fears of the issue coming under attack at the election, as well as his plans to tackle the rise of the populist right. She has broken stories on Rachel Reeves' budget plans - including the details of changes to Britain's debt rules - and revealed that Downing Street was blocking moves to ban smoking in pub beer gardens.
As the 'freebies' row threatened to engulf the government, she exclusively revealed that Starmer, Reeves and Angela Rayner would not accept future donations to pay for clothes.
Crerar disclosed cabinet ministers' private warnings over briefings against Sue Gray, the prime minister's former chief-of-staff and, once Morgan McSweeney had taken over, his plans for radical changes to the No 10 operation.
Her scoop that Rayner had, belatedly, been given a permanent seat on the national security council underlined the fragility of the prime minister's relationship with his deputy. She will continue to use her unrivalled contacts and determination to get to the truth to hold the most powerful to account.