Millie Cooke

Millie Cooke is a political correspondent at The Independent whose coverage links Westminster decision-making to defence, international relations and equalities, often using detailed policy reporting and exclusives to show how high-level choices affect security and rights.

Defence and security from Westminster

Much of her recent work tracks how governments fund and organise defence, with a focus on delays, budget gaps and the political rows around them. She has reported on ministers refusing to commit to a publication date for a long-delayed defence investment plan, highlighting pressure from opponents who warn of a major funding gap and cabinet splits over the review. She follows this thread through coverage of strategic defence reviews, explaining proposals for bigger armed forces, new submarines, long-range weapons and expanded use of artificial intelligence, alongside the arguments over how to pay for them. Her reporting on warnings that Britain is “not safe” under new defence plans shows how she uses party figures and critics to test the robustness of headline security pledges.

Cooke also connects domestic defence debates to alliance politics and the UK’s relationship with the United States. She has covered interventions from senior US defence figures who argue Britain’s “special relationship” is meaningless unless it boosts spending and matches American capabilities, using those remarks to probe whether UK promises on defence budgets are credible. In her G7 summit coverage she places the prime minister’s defence difficulties in the context of international diplomacy, asking how funding rows at home shape his ability to manage relations with allies abroad.

Her work on multi-billion pound investment in army recruitment and efforts to bolster depleted armed forces shows a consistent interest in how political commitments translate into concrete changes in military personnel and readiness.

Brexit, foreign policy and international summits

Cooke writes regularly on the long tail of Brexit and how it continues to shape Britain’s place in Europe and the world. In a decade-on piece marking the Brexit referendum anniversary, she combines personal experience with political analysis to explore how that vote reshaped national politics and public life. She has broken down the prime minister’s plans for a “Brexit reset” in European defence cooperation, explaining how proposals for deeper security ties with European partners sit alongside the domestic politics of sovereignty and migration.

Her G7 reporting carries this theme through by asking how unresolved defence and funding questions affect Britain’s ability to project stability and leadership on the world stage.

Her foreign policy coverage extends to major diplomatic appointments and disputes. In her story on officials refusing to release a key vetting file on Peter Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, she uses freedom of information and scrutiny of process to raise questions about transparency, due diligence and political influence in high-profile overseas postings.[Anchor article] She has also reported on shifting Labour positions on the Middle East, including coverage of Andy Burnham signalling a tougher policy on Israel over Gaza, where she traces how internal party debates feed into the UK’s stance on conflict and humanitarian issues.

Across these pieces she treats foreign policy as an extension of Westminster politics, showing how international decisions are contested within parties and between them.

Equalities, migration and rights in politics

Alongside defence and foreign policy, Cooke consistently covers women and equalities issues from a political angle. Her interview with the country’s first trans judge, who is taking the government to the European Court of Human Rights, explores how legal challenges to policy relate to lived experience and shifts in the safety and visibility of trans people over time.

She uses the interview format to give space to personal testimony while tying it back to government decisions and broader equalities law.

Migration and the politics of borders are another recurring strand in her reporting. She has covered rows over the prime minister’s language on mass migration, including Conservative figures backing his characterisation of the UK as an “island of strangers” and warning that aggressive levels of migration have made the country more divided. In work on new UK–France arrangements, she has reported criticism that government deals reduce migrants to “commodities”, setting out campaigners’ concerns about policies such as “one in, one out” and the human impact behind the numbers.

These stories show her focus on how rhetoric and policy choices about migrants intersect with economic arguments and equalities commitments.

Format, exclusives and front-page treatment

Cooke works across formats, from straight news to explainers, interviews and newsletter-style analysis. Pieces such as “How could Andy Burnham look to cut Britain’s soaring energy bills?” show her willingness to step back from the day’s headlines to unpack the policy options behind a leading figure’s pledge, using clear questions to structure complex economic and political detail. Her defence and summit coverage often reads as analytical dispatches from Westminster and international meetings, and she has written editions of a Westminster politics newsletter that bring together strands on defence, Brexit and party strategy.

She regularly lands prominent placements, with multiple lead stories and front-page appearances at The Independent in 2026, indicating that editors turn to her for major political set pieces and exclusives. The Mandelson vetting file story fits that pattern, using document-based reporting to open up a process usually kept behind closed doors.[Anchor article] Across subjects, her copy is grounded in quotations from ministers, campaigners and experts, and in detailed descriptions of government reviews and plans, making her work useful for anyone who needs to understand both the headline politics and the underlying policy mechanics.