The News Agents

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 as another bid for PM. She may be wanting to offer a Conservative template for future generations - think America's Republican firebrand Barry Goldwater in the...

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 in Israel - but we also wanted to take you behind the scenes to some of the briefings we have been hearing about those Dominic Raab bullying allegations and Bori...

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 Brexit now regret it. What do those who created the Brexit deal make of it now? We talk at length to Lord David Frost - architect of the Northern Ireland Prot...

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 come out? We speak to former Chief of Staff at No.10 Gavin Barwell about what's happening at Tory HQ. And, who do you trust more: Boris Johnson, or the...

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. She gamely gives us nearly an hour of her time. She’s the great survivor of British politics. She’s on her fifth Tory Prime Minister. She’s bestrode Scottish p...

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 chairman, who appears to be edging ever closer to the brink. There was further bad news for the government this morning as the latest car production figures show produ...

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 job just too big for him? We discuss. And, Germany and the US have agreed to send tanks to Ukraine to help ward off Russia's invasion. Are tanks useful...

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 colleague under-fire? Or weakness by refusing to face the awkward facts? And we speak to YouTube megastar Nas Daily about Chat GPT and replacing creatives...

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 Minister Boris Johnson, his financial needs, and the current Chairman of the BBC - an old friend of his, Richard Sharp. Today, we ask why the Chairman failed t...

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 group of Manchester students whose halls have vermin, and for which they're paying a pretty penny. And we take you through one of the biggest misunderstanding...

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: Georgia Foxwell Video: Will Gibson-Smith Planning: Alex Barnett Production: Gabriel Radus Editor: Tom Hughes For exclusive daily videos from The News Agents v...

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 right now. We catch up wih William Hague - former Tory leader - who tells us Brexit is to blame for the collapse of the company Britishvolt. And we doorstep...

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 their gender and hailed by some as a great advance for trans rights, has been blocked, vetoed by the UK government. UK ministers claim it would impact UK wide...

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 'dehumanising' rhetoric around refugees. The Home Office said the clip did not show the full exchange and had been heavily edited. Was the clip unfair? In stepping in...

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 comfortable in their lead in the polls that the question of Brexit is reopened? He's been in Belfast, today, outlining measures that would soften the terms of the Brexi...

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 set Lewis Goodall to the challenge with a list of banned words... And Tony Blair's former Chief of Staff in No.10, Jonathan Powell, helps demystify one of the s...

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 Secretary Michelle Donelan whether she's ready for a Boris return, whether her Online Safety Bill would make people any safer, and what she makes of Elon Musk at the he...

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 discuss. Also, Kevin McCarthy now finally controls the US House of Representatives for the Republicans. What will change on their international commitments? Will...

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 the attempt to upend democracy in Brazil and its echoes of Jan 6th riots, just over two years ago. Socials: Georgia Foxwell Video: Will Gibson-Smith Plan...

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 representatives failed to elect a speaker for the eleventh time (and counting). On the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, Lewis asks how much th...

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 ensuring “minimum safety [and service] levels”. What does that even mean? And how does that work when we haven’t got enough people on the frontline anyway? We discuss. Social...

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' plan to privatise Channel 4. Cue sighs of relief at Channel 4 and howls of frustration from a previous culture secretary who saw her own work being undone. We...

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 from the NHS frontline. The surgeon who tells us cupboards are now being used as examination cubicles because there are no beds and no privacy on the wards. The sister...

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 course of the last six months and ask if a new normalisation is here to stay. Does anything about how this year is ending presage what is to come in 2023? Plus -...

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 mind this Christmas. Socials: Georgia Foxwell Video: Will Gibson-Smith Production: Dino Sofos Executive Producer: Dino Sofos For exclusive daily videos from T...