Ann Treneman has been confirmed as the new parliamentary sketch writer for The Times.
Treneman has been writing the sketch intermittently over the past six months but the paper has now formally appointed her to the job. The Times claims she is the first female parliamentary sketch writer on Fleet Street.
Treneman studied journalism in the US and her first UK job was on the Kent Evening Post (now closed). She then worked for the short-lived Robert Maxwell launch the London Daily News.
Treneman joined The Observer in 1988 as chief sub and later became assistant foreign editor and then foreign editor.
In 1996 she joined The Independent as a feature writer and moved on to The Times in 1998 in the same role.
Times editor Robert Thomson said: “Ann is a witty and elegant writer, and a perceptive observer of both the human animal and the political sub-species.
“I am confident she will have a significant impact on the role and will be a great addition to The Times’ influential political reporting team at Westminster.”
Previous Times sketch writer Ben MacIntryre was appointed editor of The Times Weekend Review last year.
By Dominic Ponsford
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