[Cherie]

We love junior colleagues

The idea that she had 'no idea' she was breaking rules, and so many stupid people on FB kept going on about her being in a 'covid secure' restaurant and that no rules were broken as she just had to pee

T WAS an opportunity for revenge on an over-mighty colleague that proved just too good to ignore. When a group of resentful junior production staff at Sky News heard star presenter Kay Burley boast about plans for 60th birthday celebrations which would break strict lockdown rules, they didn’t hesitate to pounce – and set in motion a chain of events that would lead to her being banished from the air for six months, her reputation severely tarnished.

As the £600,000-a-year presenter yesterday started an African safari holiday, away from the British spotlight, The Mail on Sunday can reveal the full story of how Burley was the unwitting architect of her own downfall and how she was ambushed in what has been described as the ‘perfect inside-job coup’.

The plot by colleagues – long disgruntled by her imperious ways – began when they overheard her talking in advance about last weekend’s night on the tiles, which culminated in her and three other Sky News journalists partying at her home in Knightsbridge, Central London.

They secretly recruited a paparazzi photographer to take pictures of Burley breaking lockdown rules and created an encrypted email account to leak the story to the media.

For years, Burley, who turns 60 on Thursday, has been the queen of Sky News, having been part of the team since the channel first broadcast in 1989. Hugely professional and respected by her bosses, she has, however, attracted envy among colleagues. Words such as ‘divisive’ and ‘untouchable’ are used about her – as they so often are about successful people.

And so it was that nine days ago, at Sky’s vast headquarters in Osterley, West London, that Burley was sharing her excitement about her plans to celebrate her birthday, leaving colleagues in no doubt that she would be dining inside a venue with people from outside her own household.

She was overheard explaining that she would be visiting the Century members-only club, a celebrity haunt near Piccadilly Circus, with a group bigger than six. ‘It was a case of boom, this could really bring her down,’ says a source. ‘They thought, “If she gets caught, that would be the end for her.” ’

BURLEY named certain people she had invited, including Beth Rigby, Sky News’s political editor and Burley’s best friend since joining the channel from The Times in 2016. The plotters acted swiftly. Just over 24 hours later, photographers from the top celebrity paparazzi agency Eroteme were in place outside the club, waiting for Burley and her chums.

https://uk.search.yahoo.com/search?f...an+email+sting