The News Agents

Does it matter if Boris Johnson broke more Covid rules by inviting guests to his country home, Chequers, when the rest of the country was in lockdown? His former advisor Guto Harri says it's time to get over it. There are more important things to discuss. But we're not so sure the country is quite so ready to forgive and move on. What does it say about the country in which we live, if rules no lon...

Celebrations at Newcastle United as they qualify for the Champions League. It's a success story for the club, team and fans - but it's all been helped by new money from their Saudi backers. Today we look at a future of football as nation states - securing victories on the pitch, battling geopolitics off it. And we look at the investigation by The Athletic journalist Adam Crafton, who reveals the p...

Did Home Secretary Suella Braverman break the ministerial code by asking civil servants to help her avoid a public speed awareness course? She insists there's nothing to see here - she's taken the points on her licence and wants to move on. Her allies insist she's the victim of a smear campaign by those who don't like her immigration policies. But today on the News Agents we talk to former Justice...

When Matt Hancock visited News Agents HQ yesterday, he repeatedly refused to answer questions about decisions he made in government during the pandemic. And it got us thinking about why so many politicians struggle to admit when they’ve got things wrong. Today Lewis asks why is it - in politics - that sorry always seems to be the hardest word?

Matt Hancock, this afternoon, walked into The News Agents bunker for the first time. In this full, unedited interview, he tells us what he makes of the right of the Conservative Party, why he gave Isabel Oakeshott 100,000 of his WhatsApp messages, and he tells us who he thinks leaked the video revealing his affair with his aide at the height of Covid restrictions.

The MP for South West Norfolk has made a speech in Taiwan urging the UK Government to treat China as a security threat. She's the first former PM to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher. China - which is seeking 'reunification' with Taiwain - has called it a 'dangerous stunt'. Many in Truss's own party feel the same way. But is there sense in her message even if she's the wrong one to deliver it?...

Today we take you behind the scenes at Nat Con: the Conservative-ish conference taking place in London this week. It's a meeting of hard Brexiteers, nationalists, libertarians, and the 'anti woke'. With a smattering of Holocaust minimisers, homophobes and climate-deniers thrown in for good measure. It's an exciting place - attended by senior cabinet ministers too - and today we ask if they are the...

A warning: explicit language from the very start of the episode. Alastair Campbell meets the The News Agents in the ultimate podcast mash up. We ask him about his "wanker switch" and what happens when things go wrong live on air. And about the Starmer strategy for quiet winning. We also talk war, Murdoch and tactical voting. Later we hear from Jacob Rees Mogg who admits the Voter ID legislation wa...

It's Eurovision weekend. But the biggest party in Europe will not take place in Ukraine -last year’s victor - but in Liverpool. This episode is not about Eurovision, but instead asking where we are with the Ukraine war, over 400 days since its start. With more than 9000 Ukrainian civilians dead, are we any closer to the conflict’s end? We take you in depth and discover how everything hinges on the...

Daniel Morgan, a young private investigator, was murdered in a carpark in 1987. His killer has never been brought to justice. Three and a half decades on the Met Police have discovered a "locked file of documents" that were never handed over to the inquiry looking into police failures. Today on The News Agents we ask London Mayor his response to what just happened, whether the police should be tru...

Is America prepared to elect a president found to have sexually abused a woman in a department store? A New York civil court took just three hours to find Trump liable for abuse and defamation although it cleared him of rape. The response to the verdict has been achingly familiar. Senior Republicans calling the case a witch hunt and the jury "a joke". Trump probably isn’t the first sex abuser to h...

Forget those apocalyptic predictions of a thousand lost Conservative council seats. In the end the losses totalled 1,063. Every Conservative strategist thinks ‘something must be done’. But what is that something? More house building? More tax cuts? More ‘true Conservative’ values? More Boris? We talk to former Brexit minister David Davis about his party and what it does next.

The results are in. And it was a complete drubbing for Rishi Sunak’s Tories. His first big electoral test and it can only go down as one massive fail. Labour, the Lib Dems and the Greens are reviving in every direction. The Prime Minister is putting a brave face on it, but do the results suggest the Conservatives are doomed at the polls in 2024? In this election special show Lewis takes you throug...

America's First Lady has just flown in for the King's coronation - without her husband the President. Donald Trump calls it 'disgraceful'. But today on The News Agents we get reaction from the Ambassador herself. Why are Americans so obsessed with our monarchy? Is Biden too old to run again? What mistakes have been made within the special relationship? And what is her favourite British swear word?...

New laws to curb the power of protest have been pushed through parliament - just days before the Coronation. Penalties include a 12 month prison sentence for protestors who block roads. Are we happy to see more powers in the hands of the police? And how do they feel about the new obligation to arrest? Also - is Sue Gray going to be allowed to take her new job? And will Simon Case be able to keep h...

Keir Starmer has admitted the Labour party will 'move on' from his original commitment to abandon tuition fees. What does that mean? Is there a solution to what is essentially a bad graduate tax? And why should we believe pledges that keep on getting torn up? Also, as Princess Anne unironically endorses the current size of the monarchy, we ask how we feel about the Coronation and the pledge of all...

Richard Sharp - the embattled, embroiled BBC Chairman has resigned after a report by The Commissioner for Public Appointments found a perceived conflict of interest and a breach of the Governance Code. But this story goes much wider than one man, one job and an £800k loan to Boris Johnson. It asks questions of the institutions that run Britain: a 'jobs for the boys culture’, a toxic legacy bestowe...

For the first time ever, voter ID will be required at the polling stations next week for the May local council elections in England. It may not seem like a big ask - many countries in Europe already demand it. Yet it's triggering alarm bells. Why has the government introduced a solution to a problem (voter fraud) that didn't exist? Why has it restricted the kinds of ID you're allowed to bring? And...

The renting crisis in Britain is unsustainable. More than sixty percent of private renters faced a rent rise last year - and they're already spending around 32 percent of their income on housing. Today on The News Agents we hear from those who are struggling to even get on the rental ladder - properties are massively over subscribed. Some tenants are putting down payments on flats they haven't eve...

As Prince Harry brings his case against the News Group Newspapers (Murdoch) at the High Court, his lawyers have made an astonishing allegation: that his brother, Prince William, reached a payout over claims his phone had been hacked. News of the settlement revealed in court documents - show the late Queen was involved in “discussions and authorisation” of the agreement. The judge may yet decide to...

Stay indoors! We continue to advise all British nationals in Sudan to stay indoors wherever possible. We recognise circumstances will vary in different locations. You should exercise your own judgement about your circumstances, including whether to relocate at your own risk. This is the current advice from the Foreign Office - who have managed to evacuate UK diplomatic staff, but are struggling to...

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has resigned. The inquiry into whether he bullied staff has finally been published. Its conclusion? Raab is a bully. Lewis explores the reports findings and asks what it means for one of his closest allies — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. You can watch our episodes in full at https://global-player.onelink.me/Br0x/Videos The News Agents is a Global Player Original an...

Tom Parker Bowles is a food writer and critic with strong views on coronation chicken, UK farming and... of course, quiche. His mum is about to be crowned Queen - so today we chat about the monarchy, the dos and don'ts of royal food, protest and a certain Harry. And we chat through the political ramifications of Rishi Sunak's response to the bullying inquiry into Dominic Raab. You can watch our ep...

This is your midweek episode of Succession. Because Rupert Murdoch - aka Logan Roy - has shelled out nearly 800 million dollars to settle a defamation suit brought by Dominion - a company that makes voting machines. Fox News had tried to claim the voting machines manipulated the result of the 2020 presidential election to make Trump lose. Which was clearly bollocks. Late last night, Fox settled ou...

Another high profile arrest in the SNP. This time, Party Treasurer Colin Beattie - who was called in for questioning in the inquiry into party finances - specifically the concerns over £600,000 raised by supporters to fund a second independence referendum. It's been a rocky few weeks since Sturgeon announced her resignation in February. The arrest of her husband and Chief Executive of the SNP, the...