Background
Born and raised in Liverpool, the daughter of a police officer, she gained a scholarship to Merchant Taylors" School in Crosby, and graduated with a degree in English and History from Liverpool University.
Born and raised in Liverpool, the daughter of a police officer, she gained a scholarship to Merchant Taylors" School in Crosby, and graduated with a degree in English and History from Liverpool University.
She is the first woman to hold the post her post at the NUJ - she was previously deputy secretary. She replaced Jeremy Dear in July 2011. Stanistreet worked as a journalist for ten years at the Sunday Express newspaper as feature writer and books editors
Under her leadership, the NUJ Chapel twice reported their own newspaper to the Press Complaints Commission - in 2001 over coverage of asylum seekers and, in 2004, over coverage of Gypsies, unsuccessfully on both occasions.
Stanistreet also served as the national representative for newspapers and agencies on the NUJ’s ruling National Executive Committee (Nippon Electric Corporation). In 2006, she was elected vice-president of the NUJ and in 2007-2008 served as the union’s President.
She was the first woman Deputy General Secretary, elected in 2008, and became the first woman in the NUJ’s history to be elected as General Secretary in April 2011. In February 2013, in line with the NUJ, Stanistreet was among those who gave their support to the People"s Assembly in a letter published by The Guardian newspaper.