Ten years on from the horse meat crisis, a new scandal has engulfed almost the entire food retail sector. Huge quantities of foreign pork - sometimes tens of thousands of tonnes a week - has been passed off, fraudulently as British. <
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THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS TO BE HOUSED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP screamed the headline in the Daily Express. That was in February of 2016. And it never happened. The idea has been mooted in various ways about ten times in the last dec
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Jeremy Corbyn will not be allowed to stand for Labour at the next election. That’s despite the fact he’s been an MP in Islington North since 1983 and led Labour at two general elections- nothing like it has ever happened before. Jon and Lew
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More mass protests in the streets- this time in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and the rest of Israel.Millions of Israelis believe their democracy to be in jeopardy. The airport is blocked, universities out of action, a general strike has been
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In this special episode of The News Agents, Lewis travels to Paris to find out why the City of Lights is on fire. Amidst the tear gas, the riot police, the stun grenades and the flames, The News Agents ask- what's happened? why is it this b
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Keir Starmer spent the morning in Stoke-on-Trent. Not WOKE-on-Trent, as one hilarious Tory Red-wall-er reminded him. But attempts to fire up the culture war are something Rishi Sunak wants no part in.And recent polling suggests it's
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Boris Johnson told the parliamentary inquiry that he HAD misled parliament, but he hadn't meant to. His repeated defence was that he hadn't been advised what he was saying might be wrong (he had). And that other people hadn
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The Met Police - so says the explosive Casey Review released today - is a bullying boys club in which predators flourish. Rape evidence is thrown out - because of broken fridges.Eye-watering force is used against Black people.
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Boris Johnson has submitted evidence to the Privileges Committee which will be judging whether he set out to mislead the House of Commons over Partygate. He argues that 'he was advised he wasn't breaking any rules' - which might seem odd co
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After nearly a decade of stability spearheaded by Nicola Sturgeon, why do the SNP look like they're imploding? The three candidates after her job are spending day after day taking lumps out of each other. Polling suggests that the only thing that
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The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt finished his early morning media round and then came for a coffee with the News Agents. We asked how many doctors would re-enter the workforce with his pension changes. How Brexit will effect our growth lon
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Today's bombshell rabbit (to mix a metaphor) was the Chancellor's promise to abolish the lifetime allowance on pensions.If you're super-rich it's time to crack open the champagne. If you're working age and well-paid, it might keep you in yo
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Last night more than forty Conservative MPs refused to back Suella's new plan for immigration. One- the former Lord Chancellor - called it 'ineffective authoritarianism'. Another - the former Immigration Minister - called it 'an abso
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Gary Lineker will be back on air this weekend. And BBC Director General Tim Davie has apologised to viewers for the weekend's schedule disruptions. They'd like this row to go away now. Except it wont. Where does it leav
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The BBC have told Gary Lineker he won't be presenting Match of the Day on Saturday night. Emily, Jon and Lewis bring you their immediate reaction.Protests against drag queen story readings for kids have been gaining momentum in the US and i
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The coveted Crimes against the English Language award goes to Penny Mordaunt today for mangling almost a dozen football analogies into one short Commons speech. We are still trying to work out what a left wing striker is but for now what you need
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Gary Lineker has responded to the furore surrounding his tweet on the government's asylum policy with the promise to 'keep speaking for those with no voice'. It's being reported on the BBC News website - whist - we understand - the BBC is c
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The Tories have produced - at last count - over forty different failed policies to stop channel crossings. Today, Suella Braverman came up with the latest.It will prevent anyone arriving here by small boat from claiming asylum or doi
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Is Boris Johnson’s dad going to receive a knighthood? Is anyone else in the Johnson family? We speak to Rachel Johnson who opens up about family relationships and how it works if your brother is Prime Minister.We also ask why Keir Starmer s
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We talk to the woman who has started a war with Matt Hancock- journalist Isabel Oakeshott. He was her source and she turned on him by taking 100,000 of her Whatsapp messages to The Telegraph. The revelations have gripped Westminster- she tells us
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Boris Johnson is back. But then again, he never really went away. In a speech today at a soft power forum, he takes a swing at Rishi Sunak and his Windsor Framework after two days of lying low. We discuss the continual Johnson-shaped fly in the Su
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The Telegraph have released a slew of Matt Hancock's Whatsapp messages from when he was Health Secretary, at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic.Lewis and Jon discuss the politics of the investigation, and the ethics, or lack thereof, of th
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We said yesterday that Rishi Sunak had taken a massive gamble announcing a new deal for Northern Ireland without having necessarily laid the political groundwork beforehand. Well, 24 hours later, and it feels like he might have pulled off a
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For Northern Ireland Protocol, now read Windsor Framework. A beaming Rishi Sunak and European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, have signed what MIGHT come to be seen as an historic agreement to solve the conundrum of the status o
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U.S. Senator, Chair of the Budget Committee and TikTok sensation Bernie Sanders joins Lewis and Jon in the studio. He spoke about Joe Biden’s presidency, whether Jeremy Corbyn should stand as an independent candidate, and his new book It's OK
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The environment and food secretary has suggested that - faced with a tomato shortage - people should just eat turnips instead. It’s all a bit Marie Antoinette but just a bit more depressing. Today we look at the long-term problem beh
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Most fifteen year olds do stupid things. Rarely do they join a terrorist organisation in Syria. But today. Shamima Begum - the ISIS bride - lost her appeal - and with it her chance to regain UK citizenship. Do we feel safer as a country? Or
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There is too much news today. Frankly. Putin tried to convince a domestic audience that NATO started the war in Ukraine, Rishi Sunak tried to face down Tory doubters telling him to drop his Northern Ireland deal, and the press and media are
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Boris Johnson has been slapped down by a senior Conservative for his interventions on Rishi Sunak's latest Brexit deal over Northern Ireland. Is the former PM stirring up trouble to pave the way for a comeback? In the first interview
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Rishi Sunak has been in Belfast, hoping he can be the Prime Minister to finally answer the question on the Northern Ireland Protocol. Can he break Brexit gridlock? And elsewhere in the United Kingdom questions over the strength of the Union
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Lancashire Police have come under-fire for the revelations they made overnight about the missing mother Nicola Bulley who's not been seen for nearly three weeks. Why did they say so much - after weeks of near silence? And how damaging has t
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Sturgeon is stepping down as Scotland's First Minister. Jeremy Corbyn is banned from standing as a Labour MP. If there’s a broad News Agents take away it’s this: be careful about sitting down with Lewis Goodall. Today we look
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The only NHS service in England to offer gender identity services to children announced it would be closing down last year - after years of whistleblowers who worked there trying to raise the alarm about a scandal in their midst: a failure to safe
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Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the airspace, another one gets shot down. What are these unidentified flying objects? Are they *just* balloons? And are there more of them now or are we just noticing them more? What does it
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Childcare in Britain is broken and yet it is almost never talked about. Why? In this episode, Lewis dissects why Labour thinks this could be the key to a majority at the next election and why in 21st century Britain having children is fast becomin
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Authoritarian regimes in both Syria and Turkey make a devastating situation even more complicated. How do we get aid in to help quake victims when the humanitarian corridors are limited and social media communication is censored?In Turkey m
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With a mere couple of hours notice that Ukraine's President Zelensky was in town, The News Agents dropped everything to get to Westminster Hall to hear him address both houses of Parliament. A speech that began with gracious tributes quickl
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Rishi Sunak has had his first proper reshuffle (excluding the one he did as soon as he started).What do the changes tell us about the priorities of this government? And what has he left? TL:DR Dominica Raab remains in his job. <
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Liz Truss is back. And oh. So are those pauses. She tells Spectator TV she doesn't want to be PM again but she does want to promote her economic ideas. (You remember the ones that nearly melted the marke
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Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader was one of the most extraordinary periods of modern politics. For a while he seemed like he’d moved the posts of politics. And yet now, he is a political ghost. He isn’t even a Labour MP. In this wide r
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Little birdies have told The News Agents we can shortly expect Liz Truss to re-emerge onto the political scene. She's going to reiterate her ideology and perhaps address some of what went wrong in those fateful 49 days. Don't think of this
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A Labour MP has put the cat amongst the pigeons by calling Israel's government 'fascist' in the House of Commons. She's been hauled in front of Keir Starmer. Watch this space. We'll be talking about the rising tensions and indeed violence i
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Brexit is three years old. And like a raging toddler after a missed lunchtime nap it's kicking and screaming its way through our national consciousness creating chaos as it goes. New polls suggest a sizeable proportion of those who voted for Brexi
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New polls show more bad news for Rishi Sunak less than a day after his decisive action to sack his ministerial-code breaking Conservative Party Chair, Nadhim Zahawi. Why can't the PM catch a break? And is the Zahawi saga over - or is there more to
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We travel to Edinburgh and Holyrood, the home of the Scottish Parliament, and sit down in a meeting room in the belly of the building housing Scottish power. In walks one of the most formidable people on this sceptred isle. Nicola Sturgeon
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The News Agents are on Nadhim-watch. Alas there have been no actual sightings of him this week, but he’s been talked about plenty. And now, the head of HMRC has been speaking about tax penalties, and not helpfully for the Tory party chairma
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In Prime Minister's Questions this afternoon, Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer landed the blow that seems to have thus far defined political discourse since PM Rishi Sunak took office. Is he too weak to sack ministers when he needs to? Is the
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Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs are now becoming a problem for Rishi Sunak. The PM has asked for a full acount of what happened - a change of tune from last week when he said there was nothing to see. Does the PM show resilience from holding on to a c
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The BBC's mantra is that impartiality - and the perception of impartiality - must be at its core. Yet following revelations in The Sunday Times we are coming to understand the nature of the relationship between the former Conservative Prime
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In our 100th episode, are students the forgotten part of our society? They're facing the cost of living crisis, a now near-permanent graduate tax, and many complain about the quality of their courses.On this episode Lewis spends time with a
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Up an icy cold Swiss mountain, Sir Keir Starmer talked exclusively and at length to The News Agents. Will the UK ever rejoin the EU? What should happen to the Metropolitan Police and what do his kids think of his political ambition?Socials:
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Emily and Jon are in the Swiss mountain village of Davos. Luckily, for them, they're in the same mountain village as some of the world's most important people. It’s a power magnet, and a place to find out what people are thinking about Britain rig
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Two of the big conflicts which define British politics- the culture war and the war for the Union, have fused together. The Scottish government's controversial Gender Recognition Bill, which would make it easier for people to legally change
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It's quite a thing to pick a fight with a Holocaust survivor. But this weekend, The Home Office asked for the removal of a social media clip that showed Joan Salter MBE confronting Home Secretary Suella Braverman over what she called 'dehum
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It's been said for years that Labour have been too scared to touch the political lightning rod of Brexit, for fear of losing yet another general election. But, what if that dial is shifting now? What if Keir Starmer's party feel so comforta
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Keir Starmer is heading to Belfast and believes his party can help unlock the stalemate there. What does it take to make Brexit's biggest headache - the question of Northern Ireland - go away?And could you explain it if you needed to ? We
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If you thought it was safe to go back to The Twiglets - hang fire. New revelations about what Boris Johnson knew - and what he said - have emerged which throw the inquiry into whether he misled Parliament into focus. We ask Culture S
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Do we mind if our Conservative prime minister takes a private jet (to Leeds), if has a private GP, if sends his kids to private school? Are you outraged or happy that he's using his time (and frequently his own money) more efficiently? We
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The creator of The Thick of It, Veep and Alan Partridge Armando Iannucci joins us to talk about the current state of politics and his popularisation of its dirty underbelly. Jon and Emily disagree about Harry’s attack on the media. And we discuss
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Prince Harry has taken aim at the Palace in his new memoir ‘Spare’. Is the institution of the monarchy working for those born into it, or for us? And how does this very public family feud end?And the US Congress remains in gridlock after re
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Keir Starmer says you can’t legislate your way out of a dispute with new laws against strikes. But today on the News Agents we hear from the cabinet minister in charge of industrial relations. Grant Shapps says it’s all about ensurin
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A letter sent from Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was intercepted by our very own Lewis Goodall before it was ever made public. In it, she sets out her reasons for ditching Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries'
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For months - maybe years - we've talked about the NHS being at breaking point. 'On the brink'. 'On the edge'. Is it not time to admit the system itself is now broken? Today, we hear your experiences -our News Agents - with stories
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Emily, Jon and Lewis review 2022; at home and abroad. You know about the prime ministers and the monarchs and the presidents, but what’s going on beneath the headlines this year? The News Agents discuss a realignment in politics over the co
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For the first time since 2019 Christmas is looking “normal “. What have we learnt from Covid, the food crisis and the evolution of how and what we consume?Emily and Jon talk to two of the most famous chefs in the world about what’s on their
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Emily, Jon and Lewis review 2022; at home and abroad. They talk Ukraine, Partygate, and having a fresh start. Part 2 out next week! Socials: Georgia FoxwellVideo: Will Gibson-SmithProduction: Gabriel
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Nearly two years on from the January sixth riots, a cross-party committee is uncompromising in its findings: Donald Trump assisted in insurrection, obstruction, conspiracy to defraud and deceive. Now it’s over to the US Department of Justice. Will
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Today, the UK High Court ruled that the UK's plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful. Don't expect flights to Kigali filled with asylum seekers to take off tomorrow though; they'll be plenty of appeals and cases will need to be co
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Liz Truss' leadership was marred by chaos. Now, Asa Bennett, her speechwriter is in News Agents HQ, to lift the lid on the rollercoaster 49-day Truss premiership. And Lewis is joined by comedian and host of Listen/Read More
Nurses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are striking for the first time in over a century. Lewis has been down to the picket line at St. Thomas' Hospital - just opposite the Houses of Parliament - to ask what the political and economic
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Four people, at least, died this morning, after their dinghy capsized in the freezing waters of the English Channel. The more than 40 on board were trying to travel from France to England, presumably in search of a better life.And yet, the
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At the next election we will all be expected to show voter ID. Which is fine if you have a passport or a driving licence - but much much harder if you don't.The Conservative party believes the change is important to counter voter fraud -and
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At the next election we will all be expected to show voter ID. Which is fine if you have a passport or a driving licence - but much much harder if you don't.The Conservative party believes the change is important to counter voter fraud -and
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The funding model of the NHS has always seemed sacrosanct, untouchable. We boast about having the finest service in the world - free at the point of demand to everyone. But - it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see the service is now at brea
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Lewis heads to the scene of a raucous picket line to speak to CWU union members on strike. But how much worse will strikes get this winter?Lewis casts an eye over all sectors taking industrial action over pay, workers rights and terms and c
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Comedian Joe Lycett joins Emily and Jon in News Agents HQ. He tells us why being so angry with the government makes him do 'silly' things, 'shredding' £10,000 in a stand-off with David Beckham, and whether he'll replace Matt Lucas as the pr
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Overnight in Germany three thousand police have made two dozen arrests after uncovering a far right plot to overthrow the German state. The group were preparing for Day X- and an attempt to storm the Bundestag, the German parliament, taking
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The Tory Peer Michelle Mone is to take a leave of absence from the House of Lords to 'clear her name' from the allegations she profited to the tune of more than £20 million from a PPE Covid contract. She hasn't voted in the Lords since the end of
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On today's episode we launch the Christmas Countdown - our (and your) favourite soundbites of political inanity of 2022. Please send in the moments you want us to revisit and react to.But before we get there, we talk about Sir Keir
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You're 30 years old, worth billions as a result of a crypto exchange you've set up - and in the space of one Sunday afternoon it all turns to dust. What must that feel like? On this episode of The News Agents we speak to someone who's been
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Donald Trump is insisting he was set up by Kanye (Ye) West over that dinner party he accidentally hosted for a white supremacist leader. NBC News is reporting Trump's fury at West - who he thinks is deliberately trying to embarrass him off the ele
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Sir Keir Starmer wants private schools to pay more tax. He's also talking about removing their charitable status. Today at PMQ's he asked the PM why Winchester deserved 6 million pounds to spend on rowing clubs and rifle clubs which could be going
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12 Tory MPs have already announced they're standing down at the next election. That includes some young politicians who would once have represented the party's future.Today, we look at how many more are likely to follow - with a looming Dec
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Sir Tony Blair speaks exclusively with The News Agents. He has words that may surprise Matt Hancock and Liz Truss, and a gentle message for Keir Starmer to go further.He talks about gesture politics over the banning of Qatar state ad
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There are thousands of homes in Britain not fit for purpose with people living in neglected and dangerous conditions - with damp, mould and vermin.Lewis talks to social housing campaigner, Kwajo Tweneboa, former Levelling Up and Housing Sec
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Bird Flu is bringing Britain's farmers to their knees. The disease has killed nearly a hundred million birds world wide - nearly 4 million of them in the UK - and it poses a serious threat to our food supply. So today we're on a farm talkin
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The Supreme Court has ruled against the Scottish Parliament holding a new independence referendum without approval from Westminster. Is this the end of the fight for Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party? Lewis is joined by SNP MP Stewa
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Dominic Raab is facing renewed allegations of bullying behaviour. In this episode we turn the clock back to the time he took out a 'confidentiality agreement' -which lawyers tell us is EXACTLY the same as an NDA; a non-disclosure agreement.
Qatar has gone from being a quietly successful, enormously rich, largely anonymous speck on the world map to being a pariah of the Middle East. It had hoped hosting the World Cup would bring fame and more fortune - not the unedifying stink
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Poverty in Britain is bad and it’s getting worse. And yet, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has set out plans to tax the British public more than ever before. Lewis travels back to Birmingham to visit a community centre which provides food and warmth
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The highest tax burden in decades. The biggest drop in living standards on record. The UK and its economy is stuttering into a second recession in a decade. The news today delivered by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was not good. Emily, Jon and Lew
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Donald Trump is running for president again... to the surprise of no one. Not even the legion advisors telling him now was a really really bad time to announce it. He's on a bit of a low - the midterm results were a stingin
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A second minister in two weeks faces serious allegations of bullying. Are our corridors of power a breeding ground for bullyboy behaviour? We speak to Liz Bates, political correspondent at Sky News, who has delved deep into the alleged toxic cultu
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Comedian Joe Lycett is offering ten thousand pounds to an LGBTQ+ charity if David Beckham pulls out of his multi-zillion dollar ambassadorial role in Qatar's World Cup. He calls on Beckham as a role model and ally to think about gay football fans
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We often hear about mortgage rates going up, but perhaps not enough scrutiny is paid on the private renting sector... a sector that has enormous demand, and next to no supply. It's a sector that burns a mile-wide hole in the coffers of students, y
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Major TV series The Crown is back - series five - and it deals with one of the most painful and excruciatingly public decades of recent Royal history. Diana's tell-all book with Andrew Morton, Charles's intimate phonecalls with Camilla, the Queen
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We've been up all night waiting for the US midterm election results to come through so you could wake up at your leisure. TLDR: Trump-backed candidates didn't really take off, Trump's Republican rival soared to victory and the Democrats loo
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It's hard to imagine leaving a job in disrepute but then giving 20 of your mates a top honour that allows them to create the laws of this country. Well, maybe it isn't that hard to imagine. It's what Boris Johnson appears to have done with his Res
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When Liz Truss was looking to galvanise not just the Tory party but the nation in her conference speech, she turned to Just Stop Oil protesters for help. She believed their fractious, disruptive, an d potentially dangerous tactics would m
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Elon Musk has begun laying off staff at Twitter, a week after taking sole control of the company. He says he’s “freed the bird” but does freedom of speech on the platform come at the price of political stability and threats to democracy? Lewis speak
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In less than a week America will head to the polls for the midterms- the first national elections of the Biden presidency and since the January 6th insurrection. Biden has told Americans that democracy is on the ballot- with hundreds of Republican c
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In less than a week America will head to the polls for the midterms - the first national elections of the Biden presidency since the January 6th insurrection.Biden has told Americans that democracy is on the ballot - with hundreds of Republ
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As we record today's episode, Benjamin Netanyahu - currrently on trial for corruption charges - is about to (re)become Israel's PM. He's been in power for 17 years out of the last 25. And this time, it's all thanks to the Religious Zionism faction
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So much heat surrounds the issue of immigration. And the person in charge of decision making is Home Secretary Suella Braverman - and she's at the centre of a political storm over alleged multiple security breaches. Today The News Agents ask where th
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Gary Lineker tells us about the burger he shared with David Beckham in a hotel bar in Zurich the night before England was knocked out of the bid to host the 2018 Football world cup. What happened next, he says, was unbelievable. Qatar - against vir
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After weeks of political chaos, the real cost of the crisis is beginning to reveal itself. Lewis is joined this week by New Statesman columnist Martha Gill. They speak to Tim Durrant, Associate Director at the Institute for Government, about the stag
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We’ve had the Brexit Opportunities Minister and the Brexit Benefits Department but weirdly - we still can’t point to what those are. Today we ask if the UK economy is measurably worse off after Brexit (spoiler : the answer is yes) and what the solut
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The Lib Dems have called for an investigation into why Suella Braverman is back in her role as home secretary one week after she resigned and apologised for security leaks, and a day after Rishi Sunak promised a government of integrity. Labour tabled
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Liz Truss and her podium left Downing Street around ten thirty this morning, with a brief nod to bravery and her excellent plans for cutting taxes. Rishi Sunak came in an hour later - new podium - and talked about restoring integrity and professional
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At 1.57pm this afternoon, Penny Mordaunt's team were still insisting she would make it through to the final run off with Rushi Sunak to become Britain's next prime minister. But, just two minutes before the 2pm deadline, she pulled out of the race, c
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The News Agents convene for a special Sunday night episode. Jon, Emily and Lewis talk through the big news breaking just an hour or so earlier that Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, has decided *not* to throw his hat in the ring for this t
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The News Agents convene for a special late Sunday night/very very early Monday morning episode. Jon, Emily and Lewis talk through the big news breaking just an hour or so earlier that Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, has decided *not* to thr
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In the week to end all weeks, we've lurched from the shortest prime ministerial era *ever* to the potential return of the last PM... who's only been an ex-PM for 45 days. The race to be our next Conservative Prime Minister is well and truly on (again
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A day after announcing that she was a 'fighter, not a quitter', Prime Minister Liz Truss quits. A disastrous 24 hours for the Conservative government culminated in the PM's ousting at lunchtime today. She's the shortest serving Prime Minister in Brit
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After Home Secretary Suella Braverman resigned, the Prime Minister appointed one of her fiercest critics, Grant Shapps, to the post. Her Conservative project seems dead in the water, and after tonight’s chaos, Lewis and Jon discuss in this emergency
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We were about to publish this episode... and then the Home Secretary resigned. It came amidst a backdrop of a day in which an embattled prime minister had to face a series of tough questions from members of her own party, and the party opposite, at P
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After yesterday's stunning economic U-turn, today was a day where it was eerily quiet... almost too quiet. Why? Have the Conservatives finally decided to coalesce around their beleaguered leader? Was Jeremy Hunt's announcement enough to quell the bay
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Today saw one of the biggest political U-turns in the UK for decades. The new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appeared on our TV screens announcing a raft of economic changes. Liz Truss, our Prime Minister, was nowhere to be seen. We ask four questions today
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Liz Truss has sacked her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, and u-turned on her corporation tax cut. But without him, and the economic policy which defined her premiership, what does she stand for now? How long will she survive as Prime Minister and will she
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It's so bad for our prime minister that even the King seemed to express dismay when he was caught on mic saying "dear oh dear" to his PM. As half the government briefs journalists that U-turns are on the horizon, and the other half refutes the concep
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More government U-turns, gossip from an Anti Growth Coalition drinks party, and a PMQs debrief. Ian Blackford, SNP’s leader in Westminster also pops in to News Agents HQ for a chat. Production: Gabriel Radus Deputy Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Produ
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The Daily Mail Group - Associated Newspapers - has been accused of 'abhorrent criminal activity' by Doreen Lawrence - mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence. She's lodged a claim in the High Court along with Prince Harry, Elton John, Davi
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Kyiv awoke to bombs, explosion and the sour smell of retaliation. Putin had spent his 70th birthday weekend watching his precious road bridge that linked Crimea to mainland Russia blown to pieces. And today was his fightback. Revenge served just tw
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The National Grid has warned that British households could face power blackouts this winter, if the energy crisis exacerbates. But Liz Truss' government has ruled out any energy conservation campaign. Why? And it's been a hectic few weeks at the maj
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Home Secretary Suella Braverman has given us her 'I have a dream speech'. She got misty eyed as she imagined a newspaper front page showing a plane full of asylum seekers being deported to Rwanda. We seem to have come a long way from Martin Luther Ki
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Prime minister Liz Truss closed her conference with a speech about things she hated. These included people from north London townhouses who taxi to the BBC, tweet and go on podcasts. So Jon - who is all of these - is feeling slightly wounded. She
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A senior Conservative MP has told The News Agents Liz Truss is facing a critical moment and may have just ten days to save her job. Party discipline appears to be crumbling before our eyes. Ministers are openly touting policies they favour or rejec
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Somewhere between the hours of 10pm and midnight, on the opening day of the Conservative conference, a screeching U-turn was made. The Prime Minister, who’d insisted just yesterday her top rate tax cut was here to stay, decided… it wasn’t. By 7am thi
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It’s been a chaotic week in British politics. The slide of sterling, Bank of England interventions and a record poll showing a 33-point lead for Labour. Prime Minister Liz Truss is just three weeks into the job, and next week she'll have to face the
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The prime minister crashes the airwaves after crashing the economy. We take stock of how bad this morning's regional morning round was for Liz Truss, and what this says of her ability to communicate to the public on a local and national level. Betwee
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Make no mistake - the UK economy is crumbling. And this is not at the hands of a crisis beyond these shores. The Prime Minister and her Chancellor's decisions last Friday have sent the British economy into total freefall. In the last 24 hours, the IM
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Keir Starmer has just made his bid to be the next UK prime minister - against a backdrop of severe economic chaos. It was a speech heavy on patriotism, green policy and the promise to fix Britain. And he even mentioned the B word - Brexit - looking
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It's a blustery day in Liverpool and the Labour Party, hosting their conference here, is hoping that means winds of change. The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar this morning. What happens now? And which party can claim to be the one
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Kwasi Kwarteng announced a not-so-mini budget today, his first as chancellor. In it, he laid out the Truss government's plans for low taxes and big growth. In today's episode Salma Shah, former Conservative Special Adviser and Lord Stewart Wood, fo
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“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". Emily, Jon and Lewis are back in News Agents HQ to pour over some of the major stories around the world. They talk Iran and the death of a 22 year old woman at the h
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A big day for the UK, at home and abroad and Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner joins us in The News Agents HQ. She talks about her relationship with Labour Leader Keir Starmer, whether Labour is still the party of trade unions and what happened in t
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Hours before meeting Liz Truss, Biden tweets that he’s “sick and tired of trickle down economics”. Awkward! We’re joined by Lord Peter Mandelson who tells us why the PM is heading for a car crash. Producer: Gabriel Radus Planning: Melissa Tutesigens
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Have the monarchy and the media got this last week right? And how are we all left feeling now, a week or so on? The last seven days have seen the country divided on how to respond to The Queen's death. Emily, Jon, and Lewis reflect on how they felt
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Is it a good idea to end the cap on bankers' bonuses? The new chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng seems to think so - why? Would it be grossly unfair when so many face such hardship? Or is it the best way to energise the economy? We discuss. And Lewis is back
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Have the Republicans scored a massive own goal in their attempts to limit women's rights to abortions in the United States? And will this fatally damage their chances of success in November's midterm elections. Producer: Gabriel Radus Planning: Mel
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The police have been cracking down on anti-monarchists protesting across the UK. Why? And what does this have to do with Priti Patel's highly controversial Policing and Crime Act when she was Home Secretary? We talk about the links between the poli
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Is Ukraine about to win a war no-one thought they could? And, consequently, are Vladimir Putin's days numbered? The tide seems to be turning Europe's most significant war in eight decades. Ukrainian forces moved at lightning pace over the weekend to
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For the first time in over 70 years, the United Kingdom's head of state is a King, not a Queen. Charles III begins his reign as a monarch already well known to his public. His long held views have been aired, his life documented by television and tab
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We reflect on Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and discuss King Charles III’s accession to the throne. Producer: Gabriel Radus Executive Producer: Dino Sofos For exclusive daily videos from The News Agents visit Global Player: https://www.globalplayer.
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The Queen is under close medical attention and with family in Balmoral. We're joined by Andrew Marr, LBC Presenter and the author of The Diamond Queen - the definitive book on the life of Her Majesty. And later in the show, we discuss Liz Truss' ene
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Liz Truss faces Keir Starmer in Parliament for the first time, and there’s a notable shift in tone at Prime Minister's Questions. Gone is the bluff and bluster of the Johnson era - arguments over policy and ideology are back. We analyse that, and dis
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A drought ends in a downpour, and Prime Minister Truss emerges outside Number 10 to deliver a dry economic message. Lewis is in Downing Street, and we discuss her early pledges and what we know of her so far. Producer: Gabriel Radus Planning: Melis
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Liz Truss becomes UK Prime Minister with just 81,326 votes of Conservative party members. Has any leader ever come to power with such an array of problems? What will her first government look like? And can she solve Britain’s energy crisis? We’re
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine has plunged millions into a profound energy crisis. But Russia's war was just the catalyst. What has led us here is a much longer, and more complex story of political failure in Britain and Europe. Today, we dig deeper in
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It’s the final showdown between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. We’re back stage at Wembley for the final Tory leadership hustings, hosted by LBC as this interminable contest finally comes to an end. But what, if anything, have we learnt? When the whole c
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When Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak cross the Downing Street threshold, Britain’s most senior civil servant will take them into the cabinet room to brief them on nuclear codes, critical national security threats and vital economic data. Gus O’Donnell was t
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Donald Trump is being investigated by the FBI over a cache of secret documents he squirrelled away at his private residence in Mar-a-Lago. He says he’s cooperating but last night senior Republican Lindsey Graham warned there will be riots on the stre
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We’re launching for real on Tuesday 30th, but for now listen to Emily’s keynote lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival, with some post-match analysis from Emily and Jon. The speech looks at the challenges and solutions for good journalism in the age of
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A sneak peek of what's to come on The News Agents. See you next Tuesday!
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Welcome to The News Agents - a new daily podcast beginning August 30th hosted by journalists Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel & Lewis Goodall.
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