Tamara Cohen: Former Sky News Political Correspondent, Career and Westminster Decade Explained

Tamara Cohen spent a decade at the heart of British politics as a Sky News political correspondent, reporting from Westminster through one of the most turbulent periods in modern UK political history. From 2016 to 2025 she covered the EU referendum and its aftermath, the fall of a prime minister, two general elections, the end of another premiership, and six prime ministers in total. In December 2025 she announced she was leaving Sky News, saying she had decided to “hang up my microphone” after ten years with the broadcaster.

Her route to Westminster was not the usual broadcast path. Cohen came to television from newspapers, after eight years at the Daily Mail, where she rose from journalist to environment editor and then to political journalist and member of the Lobby.

Quick Bio

Note: This article deliberately omits date of birth, age, partner, family, net worth, salary and height. Reliable sources do not confirm those details, and low-quality blogs that claim them are unverified and are not repeated here. A claimed language ability found only on a low-quality biography site has also been omitted for the same reason.

Oxford beginnings: student journalism and United Nations Radio

Cohen studied History at the University of Oxford, graduating with a BA. University was where her journalism career began in earnest. While still a student she worked as a production assistant for United Nations Radio, an early taste of broadcast work that would prove useful much later. In her final year she was editor of The Oxford Student, the university’s student newspaper, a role that put her in charge of a newsroom and its deadlines before she had even left education. Cohen did not arrive in Westminster journalism through a presenting route. She learned journalism by doing it, first in student media, then in a professional newsroom, and only later in front of a television camera.

Eight years at the Daily Mail: environment editor to the Lobby

Cohen joined the Daily Mail in 2008 and stayed for eight years, working as both a journalist and an editor. In 2011 she became the paper’s environment editor, covering climate and government environment policy at a time when those subjects were moving from the margins of political coverage towards the centre of it. Environment policy is unforgiving reporting territory: it demands mastery of technical detail, close reading of government documents, and holding ministers to account on targets that stretch years into the future. Her environment work also attracted critical attention. A paper submitted to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2016 claimed that her Daily Mail journalism included “pre-emptive misinformation designed to undermine the IPCC report and climate science in general.” That is reported here as a claim made in that submission, not as an established finding about her reporting. From the environment brief she moved into political journalism and became a member of the Lobby, the group of political journalists given privileged access to briefings from the prime minister’s official spokesman and other senior figures. By the time she left the paper in 2016, she was an experienced political journalist, not a newcomer to Westminster.

The print-to-broadcast transition: joining Sky News in 2016

In April 2016 Cohen made the move that defines her career, leaving newspapers for television to become a political correspondent at Sky News. The timing was extraordinary. She joined the broadcaster in the run-up to the EU referendum, one of the most consequential votes in modern British history, and her first months in the job were spent covering a campaign that divided the country and then a result that reshaped its politics. The print-to-broadcast transition is harder than it looks. A newspaper journalist works to a daily deadline and in thousands of words; a television correspondent works to a rolling deadline and in seconds, live, often outside Downing Street. Cohen’s print training gave her an advantage — she already knew the policy, the players and the Lobby system — and she stayed for ten years, which suggests the transition worked.

A decade in Westminster: six prime ministers

Cohen’s decade at Sky News took in six prime ministers: David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer. She reported on Cameron’s fall after the referendum, May’s premiership and the Brexit negotiations, the 2017 and 2019 general election campaigns, and the end of Johnson’s premiership in 2022, followed by Truss and then Sunak. That longevity gives a correspondent institutional memory: knowledge of how Downing Street operates under different leaders, and trust with sources across parties, so that when a story breaks, the phone calls get answered. Westminster reporting at this level means long days outside Parliament and Downing Street, live broadcasts in all weathers, and readiness to go on air the moment a resignation letter lands. Cohen did that work for a decade. In June 2019 she also took part in a King’s College London conference discussing the intimidation and harassment of UK MPs.

Hanging up the microphone: leaving Sky News in December 2025

In December 2025 Cohen announced her departure from Sky News, saying: “After ten years and six prime ministers, I’ve decided to hang up my microphone.” The phrase is a telling one: it frames the decision as her own, and as the end of a chapter rather than a move to a new job. Her farewell message also thanked the people who had watched and shared their experiences, and her colleagues in the political team, describing the job as a privilege whether on days of big political drama or when telling stories that, in her words, bubble under the surface. No new role for Cohen was verified at the time of writing, and this article makes no claim about what she did next. Her departure closed a chapter that began with the referendum campaign and ended with a Labour government in office.

Why her career stands out

Most short biographies stop at a job list: Oxford, the Daily Mail, Sky News. That misses what is interesting: a reporter who learned the trade in print, mastered a specialist brief, earned Lobby membership, and carried that depth into television at the exact moment British politics entered its most unstable decade in living memory. Many online profiles recycle the same short summary, or fill gaps with unverified personal claims. The verifiable story is stronger without them: eight years in newspapers, ten years on television, and a front-row seat for the referendum, two general elections and six prime ministers.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Tamara Cohen? Tamara Cohen is a former Sky News political correspondent (2016–2025). She previously spent eight years at the Daily Mail as a journalist, environment editor and Lobby political journalist.

When did Tamara Cohen leave Sky News? She announced her departure in December 2025, after ten years as a political correspondent, saying she had decided to “hang up my microphone”.

What did Tamara Cohen do before Sky News? She worked at the Daily Mail from 2008 to 2016. She became environment editor in 2011, covering climate and government environment policy, and later became a political journalist and member of the Lobby.

What major political events did Tamara Cohen cover? She covered the run-up to the 2016 EU referendum, the fall of David Cameron, the 2017 and 2019 general election campaigns, the end of Boris Johnson’s premiership, and six prime ministers in total during her decade at Sky News.

Where did Tamara Cohen study? She studied History at the University of Oxford, graduating with a BA. While at university she worked as a production assistant for United Nations Radio and was editor of The Oxford Student in her final year.

What is Tamara Cohen doing now? No new role had been verified at the time of writing. This article describes her only as a former Sky News political correspondent and does not invent a new employer or role.

More on Presslix

• Eleanor Roper
• Journalists & Media

Sources

• Tamara Cohen biography, Wikipedia.
• TV Newsroom biography and December 2025 Sky News departure report.
• Sky News political coverage, 2016–2025.
• King’s College London conference, June 2019.
• House of Commons Register of Journalists’ Interests, as at 10 November 2025.