BBC journalist Laura Kuenssberg has confirmed that a government minister once propositioned her for a threesome with their partner, a story she tells in her new memoir Pay Attention. She discussed the incident live on Channel 5's The Jeremy Vine Show, where host Jeremy Vine pressed her on the claim.
Vine asked directly: “In Laura’s book, it says that she was propositioned by a minister to have a threesome at a party conference. Is that right?” Kuenssberg replied: “Well, the story I tell in the book is that it is true that one time, at a party conference – and party conferences are weird things, right? You’ve covered loads of them too.”
The encounter at the hotel room
Kuenssberg described the context of the encounter, noting that party conferences bring together politicians, journalists and party members, with late nights and long hours. She said it is “totally normal for a journalist to be asked to go and speak to a minister late at night because everyone is working long days.”
She explained that she expected to find staff or advisers when she knocked on the hotel room door, but instead the minister answered “with a few too many of their shirt buttons undone” and invited her in. Their partner was in the room rather than an adviser.
Kuenssberg said: “I sat for a while, chatted politely, and I just felt this felt really creepy. I remember I was moving my chair back further and further towards the wall. So I left very quickly.” She added that she does not know for sure whether they were seeking “some extra late-night activity” or were just being friendly, but it felt uncomfortable.
Why the story is in the book
Kuenssberg said the story is included in the memoir not for “a salacious thrill” but to illustrate how Westminster and politics can blur the lines between work, professional and social life. She said: “Sometimes that has awful consequences. But that was one of the things I’m trying to explore in the book – where the lines are, how you get to know politicians and find out information without finding yourself in a right pickle.”
Vine also asked about another incident in which Kuenssberg said she was groped at the theatre by another minister, followed by a text reading “I like your outfit and can I see a bit more of it?” She clarified that she did not actually go to the theatre, as she had declined the invitation, but the contact “started to get a bit handsy” over time, so she cut off all contact with them.
