Laura Kuenssberg has the approach of an ambitious young reporter, but the BBC uses her in senior roles

Later. It has been pointed out by a reader that Chris Mason is now the BBC's political editor. I'm sorry for the error and have changed this post's headline as a result. However, in many ways the problem remains: Laura Kuenssberg has the approach of an ambitious young reporter, but the BBC uses her in senior roles.

This was Laura Kuenssberg last night, talking up the gossip about the London Mayoral contest when not a vote had yet been counted and nothing about the outcome could be "clear".

The story about a Conservative victory seems to have originated from someone who had looked at the turnout figures for the different boroughs, put two and two together and made eleven.

It could have come from Labour talking down expectations, but there's less point in that after the polls have closed.

Or it could have come from Trumpist Conservatives, wondering if they could run with the idea that Sadiq had stolen the election if the Labour victory turned out to be narrower than expected.

Wherever it came from, the BBC's political editor should have been able to see through it. Kuenssberg's is a role that call for reflection and judgement, but she does not appear to possess those qualities.

I recently included an article in one of my The Joy of Six posts that developed this argument most convincingly.

Patrick Howse wrote:

I saw Kuenssberg in action close up when I worked for the BBC in Westminster for a year either side of the 2010 General Election. She was confident, ambitious, and good at her particular job – which at that time was to supply live commentary for the news channel about every development in the Westminster bubble, every day.

She did so fluently and energetically. She loved being on air, she loved being the first to get a story, and she could be trusted to ‘wing it’. In other words, she was a good continuous news reporter, always available to fill airtime.

After a spell at ITV, Kuenssberg was chosen to be the BBC’s political editor, replacing Nick Robinson in the summer of 2015. She was picked because of the qualities that I have outlined above. Unfortunately, these were not the qualities the BBC should have been looking for to fill that post at that time.

What they got was a journalist with access to the upper reaches of the Government, with a determination to get on air and tell everyone the whispers that she had heard from ministers, advisors and officials - before Sky or ITN.

What the BBC needed was someone who could take a step back, away from the scrum, and tell audiences when they were being lied to. That was something neither the BBC nor Kuenssberg has ever come to terms with.

Not that she is alone at the BBC in having been promoted into a job she is not suited for: the corporation's cricket correspondent needs a ghostwriter.