Phillips grew up in
Essex and attended the
University of Leeds. She first worked as a reporter for the
Harlow Star Weekly Newspaper. She has worked for the
Brighton Argus, Connors News Agency and
Woman. She was the deputy features editor in 1998 on the
Sunday People magazine. In 2016, Phillips launched
The New Day, a national newspaper which aimed to deliver politically neutral news, primarily for a female audience. Its launch was sceptically received by media commentators. The new venture failed to reach target circulation and was closed two months after its launch. Later that year she was made Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Trinity Mirror papers.
Daily Mirror In 2018, Phillips was named as the Editor of the
Daily Mirror, making her its first female editor since its very first editor in 1903,
Mary Howarth. She often writes and speaks about gender equality and the
gender pay gap, including at her own company. She is a regular media commentator, often appearing on programmes such as the
BBC's
Politics Live and
ITV's
This Morning. In June 2018, she was a guest on BBC One's
Question Time, declaring that the
Brexit negotiations had made Britain "a global laughing stock". In 2018 she was named a "Columnist of the Year" at the National Press Awards, for her weekly Wednesday column in the
Daily Mirror. The column often covers working-class family issues from a broadly left-wing perspective. Under her editorship, the
Daily Mirrors stance on
Brexit was critical of the Conservative government, but remained opposed to calls for a second referendum. Phillips succeeded
Eleanor Mills as chair of the Women in Journalism pressure group in February 2021. Phillips stepped down as editor-in-chief of the
Daily Mirror at the end of January 2024.
Labour Together In September 2025, Phillips became CEO of
Labour Together, a think tank supporting
the Labour government and Prime Minister
Keir Starmer. ==References==