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 Resignation Honours List. Lara Spirit of the Times tells us that four sitting MPs want to accept peerages without immediately giving up their seats in the House of Commons. That's a constitutional clash for a start. And then there's the advisors who have b...
Nov 08, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 make her 'anti growth' point better than any positive messaging she had hitherto used. As it turned out, she's now gone and they are still here - this morning blockading several more parts of the M25 motorway in the UK as the COP27 climate conference got underway...
Nov 07, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 speaks to a range of guests from the tech industry, including a founding member of Twitter, Jason Goldman. Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi Socials: Georgia Foxwell Video: Will Gibson-Smith Production: Gabriel Radus Deputy Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Produce...
Nov 04, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Republican candidates refusing to say whether they’ll accept the election outcome next week. Many more within the GOP continue to accept and propagate ‘The Big Lie’- that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump. And yet the Republican Party is r...
Nov 03, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 - a theocratic movement far far to his right that doesn't altogether believe in democracy. What does this mean for Israel, her neighbours, the Arab vote and indeed long-term peace? And fresh from PMQs we speak to Labour's Shadow Health Secretary Wes St...
Nov 02, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 the crisis lies, and what the numbers really tell us. We speak to the former Brexit secretary David Davis - does he have confidence in the Home Secretary? And we talk to a key former civil servant in the Home Office Sir David Normington. One person mor...
Nov 01, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 virtually every single odd - was chosen to host the 2022 tournament. The REST, as they say IS HISTORY. Fast forward 12 years and Gary speaks of his responsibility to tell it like it is when he's out there - even if it annoys his Qatari hosts. We talk gay ...
Oct 31, 2022•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 staggering bill to the taxpayer, caused by an unprecedented number of ministerial redundancies over the summer. They look to Northern Ireland, and a grid-locked Stormont. Belfast-based journalist Amanda Ferguson talks to them about the quickening decline...
Oct 28, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 solutions are. We hear the position of business, and talk to Tony Danker, the Director General of the Confederate of Business Industry. We look at the metrics with the Financial Times' Peter Foster that tell us what Brexit has done to growth. And we ask if...
Oct 27, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 an urgent question to ask the same thing in the House of Commons today. But the Home Secretary didn't appear to even turn up. Instead, it was left to the blokes - Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer - to face off at PMQs. Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi Prod...
Oct 26, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 professionalism to the office of PM. There were no prizes for guessing who he meant. He also made clear he was there because of Liz Truss mistakes. it sounded pretty brutal - but it put clear water between him and her. And then came the cabinet appointments. And...
Oct 25, 2022•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, crowning Rishi Sunak as the next Conservative party leader and the UK's first British Asian Prime Minister. It's quite a moment. Today The News Agents take stock of what we know about him, what we don't, and what his leadership will mean for the rest ...
Oct 24, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 truncated leadership election, despite the backing of dozens of MPs and sizeable support amongst Conservative Party members. It paves the way for one of either Rishi Sunak, ex-Chancellor, or Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, to become the U...
Oct 24, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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!). Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt has already thrown her hat into the ring, and the rumour is that former Chancellor Rishi Sunak will follow too. Jon and Lewis speak to former Special Advisor to Boris Johnson, Henry Newman, about whet...
Oct 21, 2022•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 British political history. Today's episode looks at the events that led to Truss’ resignation after just 45 days in office, the candidates in the running to take over, and the likelihood of an early general election. Joining all three News Agents are Con...
Oct 20, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 episode whether the final nail has been drilled into the coffin of Liz Truss’ government. Production: Ellie Clifford & Gabriel Radus
Oct 19, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Prime Minister's Questions. The chaos in British politics continues. Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi Social Editor: Ollie McGrath Production: Gabriel Radus Deputy Editor: Tom Hughes Executive Producer: Dino Sofos For exclusive daily videos from The News...
Oct 19, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 baying wolves? It certainly calmed the markets down. We explore what's happening now, what manoeuvring could be going on behind the scenes, and how pivotal tomorrow's Prime Minister's Questions is for her. If she comes through it well, she could be able...
Oct 18, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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: 1) What just happened? 2) Why has the Government done it? 3) What does it mean for you, the listener? 4) And what does it mean for Truss and the chances of premiership? Planning: Melissa Tutesigensi Vision Mixer: Will Gibson-Smith Production: Gabrie...
Oct 17, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 lead the Conservatives into the next election? Lewis is joined by Katy Balls, Deputy Political Editor of The Spectator, and Michael Jacobs, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sheffield, and former Special Advisor to Gordon Brown. Pr...
Oct 14, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 concept as preposterous, the only thing that's clear is that it is dark days for this Conservative government, and for Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng. Could we be seeing the Kwarteng/Truss endgame? And maybe even Mordaunt/Sunak resurrections? And in the seco...
Oct 13, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Producer: Dino Sofos For exclusive daily videos from The News Agents visit Global Player: https://www.globalplayer.com/videos/brands/news-agents/the-news-agents/ The News Agents is a Global Player Original and a Persephonica Production....
Oct 12, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost and former Lib Dem MP Simon Hughes. They allege the papers engaged in unlawful acts - including the hiring of private detectives to hide listening devices inside people’s cars and homes. On today's episode of Th...
Oct 11, 2022•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 two days cold. 75 missiles launched at targets across Ukraine. Poeple on their way to work. Parks, children’s playgrounds all the seemingly pointless target of Putin’s anger. We hear from John Sweeney - in his shower as the shells hit Kyiv - and from the...
Oct 10, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 major party conferences, but what do the voters really think of the state of politics? Lewis went to a focus group in Swindon to ask what they make of Liz Truss and her opposite number Keir Starmer. Polly Billington, former Special Advisor to Ed Miliband...
Oct 07, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 King. But as the PM heads off to Prague to talk migrant crossings with her friend-or-foe Emmanuel Macron, we thought we'd take a look at the plan for Tory immigration - and ask whether the PM and her Home Secretary even agree. And we get Craig Oliver a...
Oct 06, 2022•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 coined a new phrase for her collective dislikes, “the anti growth coalition“ - a phrase that rather reminded us of Donald Trump's old playlist,“enemies of the people". As she talked, protests from Greenpeace tried to disrupt the speech - but may actuall...
Oct 05, 2022•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 reject and some are even telling each other to quietly go away. There is a restlessness at the Conservative Party Conference which tells you things haven’t really gone back to normal. And may not ever. We speak to a Cabinet minister who wants his rebel coll...
Oct 04, 2022•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 this morning the whole policy had been ditched. Changes in unpopular policy can be a good thing. But if Liz Truss and her chancellor thought this would end the conversation, they’re in for a shock. Today, the questions are coming faster than ever: is Li...
Oct 03, 2022•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 party, and nation, at Conservative Party Conference. Can she survive this? Lewis is joined by former Conservative MP David Gauke and former advisor to Tony Blair, Baroness Sally Morgan. And, across the Atlantic, a left-wing politician is vying to ous...
Sep 30, 2022•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
