Daily Mirror editor-in-chief Alison Phillips stepping down

Alison Phillips, the editor-in-chief for The Mirror newspaper, is to step down from her role at the end of January, having done it since 2018.

She said she was proud to be part of a team which showed that "great journalism can be done with kindness".

Phillips will be replaced Caroline Waterston, editor-in-chief of Reach plc, which owns The Mirror, on an interim basis.

Reach chief executive Jim Mullen praised her "dedication".

Reach, which employs about 4,500 people and also owns the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo, said in July that the cost of printing newspapers had risen by 60% due to high energy prices.

During Phillips' tenure, the newspaper broke the story, along with The Guardian, about the row over Dominic Cummings infamously travelling in 2020 to Barnard Castle during lockdown in the Covid pandemic, and claiming he had been trying to test his vision.

Phillips' departure comes amid wider challenges for the Mirror and Reach.

In December 2023, Prince Harry won 15 claims in his case accusing Mirror Group Newspapers of unlawfully gathering information for stories published about him.

He had alleged that about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 were selected to be considered in the court case.

In response a Mirror Group Newspapers spokeswoman said it welcomed the judgement which gave the business "clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago".

"Where historical wrongdoing took place, we apologise unreservedly, have taken full responsibility and paid appropriate compensation," she said.