Sam Coates

Coates joined The Times in 2000 as a graduate trainee, working on the diary, foreign desk, and general reporter.^[2] He won the Laurence Stern fellowship in 2005,^[5] and worked at The Washington Post during summer 2005.^[6] Coates joined The Times' lobby team in 2005 as Chief Political Correspondent, before being promoted to Deputy Political Editor in November 2010. In 2012, Coates spent a year as banking editor of The Times.^[7]

During his time working at The Times, he contributed to the 2010 The Times Guide to the House of Commons,^[8] and his picture of the 2017 Westminster attack was used on the front cover of the newspaper.^[9] His reaction to Boris Johnson ruling himself out in the 2016 Conservative Party leadership election led to Coates featuring in the Daily Mirror and other outlets.^[10][11] Coates was said to be "pivotal to The Times' parliamentary coverage" in a 2019 report.^[12]

While at The Times, Coates regularly presented BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.^[13][14] Coates also appeared as a paper reviewer on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show,^[15] Politics Live,^[16] and appeared on ABC's Lateline programme in March 2012.^[17] He also appeared on ABC's Insiders programme on 2 May 2010 alongside future Sky News colleague Adam Boulton.^[18]

In February 2019, it was announced that Coates would be joining Sky News later that year as deputy political editor, replacing Beth Rigby who was promoted to political editor.^[19][20] Coates obtained a leaked document regarding the impact of a no-deal Brexit^[21] which featured widely in news outlets in the UK and Ireland.^[22][23]

In the build-up to Britain's proposed exit from the European Union on the 31 October 2019, Coates participated in Sky News' #Brexplainer feature,^[24] and featured in Sky News' 2019 general election overnight coverage.^[25][26]

In September 2023 Politico and Sky News launched a new podcast series, Politics at Jack and Sam’s, which featured Coates and Jack Blanchard presenting weekly podcast giving a look ahead to the coming week but soon moved to a typically 4 days a week 20 minute podcast. On Blanchard’s move to a new post in America the podcast was relaunched in March 2025 with Politico’s Anne McElvoy.^[27][28]

• Coates, Sam (11 June 2012). "Eight out of ten Britons want a vote on Europe". The Times. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
• Zeffman, Henry; Coates, Sam (2 August 2018). "Jeremy Corbyn raised Nazi crimes to describe Israel in Gaza". The Times. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
• Coates, Sam; Walsh, John (7 December 2018). "Warning of food shortages in Ireland". The Times. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
• Coates, Sam (2 August 2019). "UK faces potential 'consumer panic' and 'security gaps' under no-deal Brexit, says government document". Sky News. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
• Coates, Sam (30 September 2019). "Brexit is 'unsettling' the civil service, cabinet sec admits in leaked letter". Sky News. Retrieved 21 June 2020.