Three giants of UK broadcasting – among them Sky News’ Kay Burley – have been featured on the cover of Tatler magazine, as they prepare to lead the coverage of the general election.

Joining Burley on the front page is Emily Maitlis, who will be bringing viewers all the latest during election night for Channel 4, and Mishal Husain, who will cover the morning after the election for the BBC, as well as its head-to-head debate between Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer on 26 June.

The trio – who were featured on the society magazine’s front cover in floor-length dresses and under the headline “The Election Show!” – relived some of their favourite moments on and off-air, and shared their thoughts ahead of the 4 July vote.

Your ultimate guide to the general election

They also discussed their reaction to Rishi Sunak firing the starting gun on the election in a speech outside Downing Street in the pouring rain on 22 May.

“He looked like a drowned rat,” Burley told the magazine.

The award-winning broadcaster – who has been part of Sky News since it launched in 1989 – also revealed she was once offered a job as a prime minister’s spokesperson, but told the unnamed leader at the time: “Why don’t you win first, and then we’ll have a chat?”‘

On past votes, Burley said that she knew former prime minster David Cameron would win the 2010 election because – like Tony Blair, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama – he “had the X factor”.

She told the magazine only Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has the same appeal among current UK politicians.

Burley will host Election Night Live, the overnight results programme on Sky News, from a 360-degree immersive studio alongside Sky News’ award-winning political editor Beth Rigby, the presenter of our Sunday breakfast show Sir Trevor Phillips, and data and economics editor Ed Conway.

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From 7am on the morning after the nationwide voting, lead politics presenter Sophy Ridge, host of Sky’s Politics Hub, will be live from Westminster with deputy political editor Sam Coates and Sky News contributor Adam Boulton bringing viewers every development as the election results are absorbed and plans for the next government are made.

For former Newsnight presenter Maitlis, said the starting gun to the general election was fired for her on 21 May, when she got a text from a source saying: “I’m hearing rumours…”

The broadcaster said she had just finished dinner when she saw the message pop up and “knew immediately what it meant”.

Having left the BBC in 2022 and turning her hand to podcasting, Maitlis said she knew she wanted to be part of TV coverage for the election after watching the America Decides election episode of the hit drama Succession.

“[I realised] ‘Oh my God, I do want to be on TV for the election,'” she said, adding: “I couldn’t imagine going through the whole night without being part of that.”

Husain told the magazine she was standing outside Number 10 – in her “most waterproof raincoat” – when Mr Sunak called the general election.

“You’re thinking, ‘Is this feeding into my microphone?'” Husain said, adding that she found herself peering up at the windows of the building “wondering what it was like for the family and everyone still working in that building. There was a real sense of calm”.

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On covering the results of an election, she said: “Once you see the results of the exit poll, your mind starts to race. I want to arrive as fresh as I can possibly be.

“You are in a heightened state of alert from the moment you get up. It’s a true privilege to be in a seat like that the morning after the election, when people are turning to you.”

See the full feature in the August issue of Tatler available via digital download and on news stands from Thursday 27 June.

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