Wes Streeting is hoping to become the first Labour Health Secretary in 14 years. How honest is he prepared to be about what the health service needs and what Labour is prepared to spend? On today's episode, he tells us that frankly the system we have is "not the envy of the world". Can they really fix it by closing a non-dom tax loophole and praying for growth? We also hear what he really thinks of Israel's actions in Gaza and of the death threats he's received in his own constituency. Editor: T...
Dec 19, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast What did Michelle Mone mean when she said all she’d done was “lie to the press“ after she threatened journalists with lawsuits if they dared to investigate her story? Today we follow all the unanswered questions - is our defamation law serving the public? What did the government know about the missing Mone millions? And should she still sit in the House of Lords? Tax Lawyer Dan Neidle and Labour shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds join us. After that, we speak to former UK Ambassador to Lebanon ...
Dec 18, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Far Right are growing in strength, power and number across Europe and beyond. In election after election extremist forces are becoming bigger and bigger players, destroying old more traditional conservative parties. In this episode of The News Agents Investigates, Lewis heads to the Netherlands, where an old political face, Geert Wilders, could now be king of all he surveys. But Holland is just one story, a microcosm of one of the biggest political tales of our time- the slow collapse of the...
Dec 17, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Prince Harry won, the press lost. In a landmark court verdict, a high court judge on Friday ruled that phone hacking and other unlawful practices to obtain stories were "habitual" at the Mirror Group's newspapers. The judge also said that senior executives at the company knew about these methods, as did Piers Morgan, who once edited the Daily Mirror. Morgan has taken to the airwaves to once again deny. Lewis asks what this ruling means for Harry, the royal family, the press and Piers Morgan hims...
Dec 15, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vladimir Putin’s “Results of the Year “ was a marathon televised chat show where for 4+ hours he answered none of the questions the Russian public desperately wished they could ask. “When will the war end? When are our soldiers coming home? Are you as ill as the rumours suggest? Why is the Russia on TV not the real Russia?" Today we ask if Putin’s buoyant mood suggests he thinks he’s about to win the Ukraine war. We talk to those from the Bush and Obama administration who know all about Putin's ...
Dec 14, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast The incoming chair of the BBC, Samir Shah, has suggested that Gary Lineker may have breached BBC guidelines with his 'ad hominem attacks' on two Conservative MPs. It was only two months ago that the BBC drew up its new social media guidelines - Do they make sense? Does Lineker care? And how much is the corporation responding to pressure from the right wing papers? Later - Mark Drakeford is stepping down as Wales First Minister - and is Rishi out of trouble now after winning last night's Rwanda v...
Dec 13, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you. Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player. Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.
Dec 13, 2023•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rishi Sunak faces a crucial vote tonight in the Commons over his new Rwanda bill. It's not proving to be an easy week with his party split over whether the bill goes too far or indeed that it does not go far enough. So just how did the Prime Minister get himself into a position where his whips are scrambling at the last minute to get this vote passed? The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ Editor: Tom Hughes Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus Producer: Laura FitzPatri...
Dec 12, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rishi Sunak is in a dark room in Paddington talking about the decisions he made as Chancellor to the covid inquiry. Meanwhile, various huddles of Tory MPs are meeting to decide whether or not to vote through the key Rwanda bill tomorrow, one backbencher, the ERG leader Mark Francois, has told the government to rip it up and start again. We ask former deputy chair of the party Paul Scully if Rishi could lose the vote. The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ Editor: ...
Dec 11, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In an extended interview, Lewis Goodall speaks with the former speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. They discuss his difficult relationships with various Tory PMs (Cameron, May and Johnson), his switch from the far-right to the centre left, the bullying allegations that ended his political career. Plus, the TV show Traitors. He's in the next series. The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ Editor: Tom Hughes Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus Producer: Laura Fi...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast An impromptu Prime Minister's press conference this morning raised more questions than it answered. Rishi Sunak was responding to the resignation of Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick last night - which blindsided the government - and left the PM defending his Rwanda policy and promising he would disapply human rights law to get it through. Today - a stark message for those in the party trying to cause trouble - from Tory backbencher and 1922 committee stalwart Sir Charles Walker - who joins us...
Dec 07, 2023•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Boris Johnson’s appearance before the Covid Inquiry always had the feeling of the end of season pre-Xmas finale. It began with protests from the bereaved - who Johnson had avoided by arriving early. He offered his apology , insisted the UK death rate had been comparatively normal, and couldn’t quite explain what if anything he thought he’d got wrong. Later- Suella in the Commons. What was that speech about? The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ Editor: Tom Hughes...
Dec 06, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Home Secretary will bring in tough new rules to curb legal migration next Spring. Workers will be required to earn nearly forty thousand pounds to come here. Care workers will be exempt but won’t be allowed to bring a loved one. What will the unintended consequences be? And can we afford it ? Later, the Rwanda policy is looking for a defibrillator. What does the government have in mind? The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/ Editor: Tom Hughes Senior Producer:...
Dec 05, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you. Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player. Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.
Dec 05, 2023•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Conservative Party has lost half a million voters since their October party conference - according to a brand-new poll of polls. They suggest Rishi's personal popularity is now lower than... Liz Truss. Why is this happening and is it reversible or terminal? Which political direction will it pull the PM in? And later who is Keir Starmer talking to when he warns Labour will not be making big spending plans - and confesses his admiration for the controversial Margaret Thatcher? The News Agents ...
Dec 04, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Matt Hancock has had his moment in the Covid Inquiry's sun. In characteristic form, he's been an appropriate mix of quoteworthy, weird and often both. At the heart of his testimony lies some extraordinary allegations. We dig deep. And in the latest of our extended political interviews, we talk to veteran Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge, about her battles with the far right, the far left and how identity politics has brought her own rising sense of Jewishness to the forefront of her politics. Edito...
Dec 01, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast On 15 September 2008 the world changed forever. The collapse of Lehman Brothers Bank heralded the financial crash and the worst recession in 60 years. It would change our politics - perhaps forever. One man predicted the scale and depth of what was to come - the chancellor who fought to stabilise the UK economy on the brink of collapse. That was Alistair Darling, whose death was announced this afternoon. Today we look at the impact that extraordinary time and his critical interventions had on th...
Nov 30, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast With The Telegraph newspaper up for sale we are asking a wider question about who owns our news. Does it matter if foreign parties have a stake ? Does it matter if foreign governments do? And can an owner remain truly impartial when their business depends upon it? We discuss the intersection between politics, newspaper coverage and big money. Editor: Tom Hughes Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus Producer: Laura FitzPatrick Planning Producer: Alex Barnett Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell Video Pr...
Nov 29, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rishi Sunak has cancelled a meeting with the visiting Greek PM. Downing Street says it was because he raised the issue of the return of the Elgin Marbles/Parthenon Sculptures on the BBC, after expressly being asked not to. The Greeks say no such deal was ever made, and they didn't fancy a downgraded meeting with the Deputy PM Oliver Dowden. Meanwhile Keir Starmer's team say he had a very productive meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis on immigration and security - and they find it odd that a NATO al...
Nov 28, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you. Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player. Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.
Nov 28, 2023•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Net migration is at an all-time high. Almost three times higher - ironically - than before the Brexit vote. If everyone agrees it’s unsustainable then which parts of it do we want cut? And if migrants are actually plugging vital gaps in our economy then why can’t we say so? Also today - New Zealand has just U-turned on its smoking ban. Will we stick to ours? And where is Labour now on that 28 billion pounds promised for green spending… Editor: Tom Hughes Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus Producer: ...
Nov 27, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oscar-winning and BAFTA-winning actress Olivia Colman joins The News Agents in a rare broadcast interview to talk about her work: on screen, and off-screen with the charity she's a patron of: Tender. Together with Susie McDonald - CEO of Tender - she explains the importance of preventative efforts iin domestic violence cases in supplementing the work of charities supporting survivors of abuse. And she talks the new season of The Crown, the writers strike and how press intrusion has radically cha...
Nov 26, 2023•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Israel and Hamas exchange hostages for prisoners, the worst riots in decades break out on the streets of Dublin (at the egging on of one Conor McGregor) and a far-right, anti-Islam populist wins in the socially liberal, deeply pro-EU Netherlands - what's happened in the world after a fortnight of all-consuming British political psychodrama. Lewis talks to Secunder Kermani, Channel 4's Foreign Correspondent who's spent most of the last 2 months on the ground Israel, POLITICO EU's Dutch reporte...
Nov 24, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast A quick trip to Downing Street for The News Agents today and an interview with the Chancellor fresh from his Autumn Statement. How does he explain those real term cuts to public spending? What does he make of todays immigration figures? And does he miss Suella? Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus Producer: Laura FitzPatrick Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell Video Production: Rory Symon & James Cropper You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News...
Nov 23, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast The government is running out of chances to change the course of politics. Today’s Autumn Statement was one of them. It was billed by PM Rishi Sunak and Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, as a tax-cutting budget, a reward for the tough economic decisions they’d taken earlier. But have they really cut your taxes? And is the economic situation really much improved since they told us there was no room for cutting taxes? Forget the spin, this is what the Autumn Statement really told us about where our economy...
Nov 22, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the past couple of days, the Covid Inquiry has seen the two most powerful scientists in the country during the height of the pandemic - Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance - give evidence. What they've said has intensified the spotlight on Rishi Sunak - the architect of Eat Out to Help Out - of which testimony has revealed scientists weren't aware before the scheme was rolled out. Is this intensifying the pressure on the PM? And, ahead of the budget - tax cuts. But what kind? Are ...
Nov 21, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily and Jon host a weekly US politics podcast; giving you everything you need to know about the world of US politics and how it affects you. Episodes are available every Tuesday, on Global Player. Find the latest episode of News Agents USA here on Global Player.
Nov 21, 2023•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast What should the government do if the Supreme Court calls their policy unlawful? Simples. Just change the law. It’s not the Christmas cracker joke answer for some in the Conservative Party who are actively trying to get the PM to do just that. Today, a former Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland, spells out the damage that would do. Later, we ask what the decapitation of Sam Altman at the top of OpenAI tells us. Was he going too fast towards an unregulated AI world? And is it too late to put the geni...
Nov 20, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lewis travels up to Aberdeenshire to speak exclusively - and at length- to the Leader of the Opposition - Sir Keir Starmer after the mother of all British political weeks. Editor: Gabriel Radus Social Media Editor & Video Production: Rory Symon Field Production: Gabriel Radus & Rory Symon You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents". And, The News Agents now have merch! To get yours, head to: https://www.TheNewsAgentsStore.co...
Nov 17, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jess Philips - one of the 8 frontbenchers who voted against the Labour whip last night - gives her first interview to us since resigning last night from her position as Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding- to 'vote with her constituents and her heart'. Will this damage party morale and weaken Keir Starmer? Or will it show a different side to the politics of disagreement? Also, Rishi Sunak is undaunted by yesterday's excoriating judgmenet from the Supreme Court, making his Rwan...
Nov 16, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
