Moira Stuart dropped from BBC News slot

Award-winning BBC newsreader Moira Stuart has been dropped from her regular slot on Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme.

A spokesman for the BBC said: "She's still working for the BBC at the moment," but declined to give a reason for the decision. Stuart is continuing to work on other projects for the broadcaster.

Formerly an actress, Stuart, 55, has been with BBC News since 1981. She become Britain's first female black newsreader and in 2001 was awarded an OBE. She spent six years on BBC Breakfast until last May, when the programme's format changed.

A subject of BBC Two's Who Do You Think You Are?, last month she fronted a documentary on Wilberforce and the slave trade for BBC Two, and has co-presented personal finance series Cashing In. She has also stood in for Humphrey Lyttelton on his Radio 2 Best of Jazz programme.