[1] Aiming to earn enough money to return home she worked as a freelancer for publications including The Observer and the Sunday Express.

In 1998 she was appointed acting editor of the Sunday Express, a position she was sacked from by Rosie Boycott following the publication of details of Peter Mandelson's gay relationship with his Brazilian partner.

[6] It was from 1999 to 2001 that Platell moved into politics to become the Conservative Party's head of media, during which she supported William Hague, advising him to just "be yourself" as it was at these times he was his strongest.

[4] On 21 November 2011, at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the British press, Hugh Grant accused Platell of a "hatchet job" on his recent fatherhood following an article she wrote for the Daily Mail.

In 2020 the Daily Mail paid damages of £25,000 to the Cambridge academic Professor Priyamvada Gopal and agreed to pay her legal costs after Platell libellously claimed, citing fake tweets, that she was "attempting to incite an aggressive and potentially violent race war".