The News Agents

Latest Episodes:

Partygate: Boris Johnson breaks the rules (again) May 24, 2023

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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 longer count and if the civil servants who report wrongdoing are threatened with legal action?

Later we look at the latest Presidential hopeful to take on Donald Trump - Ron DeSantis, Florida Governor, who is launching his campaign on Twitter.

How Johnson's government pressured the Premier League into the Saudi takeover May 23, 2023

Show notes

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 pressure Boris Johnson's government brought to bear on the Premier League during the Saudi takeover of Newcastle, the failure of which he said would be "an immediate risk" to the UK/Saudi relationship.

Speedy Suella: How long can she last? May 22, 2023

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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 Secretary Robert Buckland who asks what she was doing at the National Conservatism conference, and whether she is committed to 'collective cabinet responsibility' - a subtle dig at her own prime ministerial ambitions perhaps?

Why can't politicians just say sorry? May 19, 2023

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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?

Exclusive: Matt Hancock on NatCon, Covid, WhatsApps and “being human” May 18, 2023

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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.

Why is Liz Truss provoking China? May 17, 2023

Show notes

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? And what is she hoping to achieve - for the world, her party and herself?

And, later, we speak to Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz about playing twins in her drama 'Dead Ringers', moves to curtail women's rights in the US, her husband James Bond, and Lewis' acorn.

NatCon: fruitcakes, fringe, or future of the Tory Party? May 16, 2023

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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 fringe or the future of the Conservative Party.

Alastair Campbell on war, w**kers and winning elections May 15, 2023

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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 was gerrymandering.

Ukraine: a war without end? May 12, 2023

Show notes

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 Ukrainian counter offensive, now finally coming.

And in our latest My Political Make Up interview we talk to Labour MP and Shadow Minister for Women, Jess Phillips.

Met corruption and Britain’s biggest unsolved crime May 11, 2023

Show notes

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 trusted with new powers and whether corruption lies at the heart of what went wrong.

We also take you to the car crash debate of the last 24 hours. For the first time since 2016, CNN decided to give Donald Trump a live town hall forum with a studio audience... the day after a jury found him liable for sex abuse.

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