The News Agents

Just a day after BBC bosses were in front of MPs to address impartiality concerns, and there's a fresh impartiality headache for the beleaguered broadcaster. Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, who'd been asked to give the prestigious Reith Lecture, today revealed that the BBC had removed a “key line” from his address. Bregman's claim that President Trump is “the most openly corrupt president in American history” was removed from the R...

The leak of a 28 point peace plan over the weekend - reportedly agreed between Washington and Moscow - sent shivers down the spine of European leaders and Ukraine's soldiers.

The proposals would force Ukraine to hand over swathes of territory to Vladimir Putin, limit the size of its army, and rule out any future membership of NATO.

The package was seen as so favourable to the Kremlin that many questioned whether Volodymyr Zelenskyy ...

Ken Clarke is perhaps the archetypal political Big Beast. Elected to parliament 55 years ago, he held cabinet roles under Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron - tipped many times for No 10, and yet never quite hardline enough on Europe to convince his Tory peers that he should be their leader.

Ahead of what looks certain to be an existential Budget for Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer, Lewis went to Lord Clarke's Nottingha...

Only three days after launching, Sky had to take down its TikTok channel for female sports fans. Branded as the "lil-sis" of Sky Sports, it was complete with pink hearts and Barbies.

But were they on to something? How do we get more young women hooked on sport? The person who figures that out has hit a goldmine.

To try to strike gold, Gabby chats to Chris Paouros, Vice-Chair of the Football Supporters Association, and Ceylon Andi H...

The Prime Minister has called on Nigel Farage to explain the reports of racist comments the reform leader allegedly made as a school boy. Farage has denied making the comments and called the allegations “without foundation“.

The Guardian reported this week that he had picked on Jewish boys at Dulwich college when he was there at school and had sung offensive racist songs.

Much of their reporting had been aired a decade earlier by M...

Backbench Labour MP Clive Lewis took to a TV studio to offer up his own Norwich seat to allow Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham a path back into Parliament and make a bid for No 10. He said his party felt "in checkmate" and that it was time to put "country before party, party before personal ambition".

Is a change of leadership now a “when not if “question? Is Lewis a lone wolf? Or are the vultures now circling? Has the Labour P...

Parliament is not usually the place where you hear racist language. But yesterday, the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood repeated a racist slur that she has often been subjected to. Was she right to use this language to illustrate her point? And was she using it to justify her latest asylum policies?

Later, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi joins us to talk about the Epstein files and the mounting pressure on President Trump.

The News Agents is ...

The Home Secretary is putting her new hardline immigration plans before parliament - saying if Labour doesn’t do something drastic then worse will come. The new policy includes returning asylum seekers to their home country once it’s deemed safe. And quadrupling the amount of time they will have to spend in the UK before earning indefinite leave to remain.

Some Labour MPs are already queuing up to call it "performative cruelty" and...

It’s been a chaotic week for Labour, with rumours of internal plots and Downing Street briefing wars.

As questions swirl around Keir Starmer’s leadership, and with Rachel Reeves facing mounting pressure to steady the party’s economic footing, Labour’s internal tensions are threatening to boil over.

Lord Blunkett joins Jon in the studio to dissect what is going on inside Labour, how Starmer might get a handle on the situation, and ult...

Never write off a born racer: Sir Mark Cavendish had won 30 stages of the world's biggest cycling race, The Tour de France (even winning one makes a riders career) but he'd been out of the game for 5 years - so no one would give him a job. What happened next was one of the biggest comebacks of all time to put him among the sporting greats.

Sir Mark Cavendish joins us on today's show - how did it feel to be written off? Was it fair ...

23,000 pages of documents from the “Epstein files” have been released by Congress. They reveal damning details, and suggest that Epstein and Trump were in contact long after the President has previously said.

In the emails Epstein said of Trump: "I am the one able to take him down".

So are Trump's connections to Epstein finally catching up to him? And do these emails really have the power to take down the President of the United Sta...

Late last night came a crisis response from Downing Street responding to a story no one had even heard. The suggestion was a plot - to unseat the prime minister - supposedly by the Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Streeting vehemently denied the plot. But a briefing went out from Downing Street suggesting Starmer was ready for the fight. What on earth is going on?

Later, Jon speaks to Christine Flack - Caroline Flack's mother - about...

The BBC has been set a deadline of Friday by Donald Trump's lawyer to apologise and "appropriately compensate" the US President for a Panorama edit of his January 6th speech.

If the broadcaster doesn't respond, the threat of a $1bn lawsuit looms. The outgoing head of the BBC Tim Davie today told staff to "fight for our journalism" - but it's not yet clear how it will respond to the unprecedented threat from Trump.

Should it have th...

Over the last 48 hours, The News Agents have spoken to more than 30 people - insiders at the BBC - to try and work out the facts of what actually happened inside the corporation, and when. Both the Director General and the CEO of News resigned over the weekend, so why are some talking about a “right wing coup“? Why did the apology take so long to arrive? And why is Trump now threatening the state broadcaster with legal action?

The N...

This is the final episode of Coining It. If you'd like to catch up from the beginning, head to Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts and search for 'Coining It'. Or, if you've enjoyed the series, head to the Coining It feed where you can leave a rating and a review.

In this episode... Who was the real James Parker? Lewis pieces together the truth behind the would-be Robin Hood, as his friends face jail for their actions. ...

Is it time to rethink the British monarchy? Why has “Your Party” been such a spectacular flop? Is Starmer the biggest obstacle to a Labour second term? And what IS the Overton window?

This Friday, Jon, Lewis and Emily answer your questions.

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We've been Traitors mad so Clare Balding joined Gabby and Mark for a slightly different episode of The Sports Agents. Don't worry there's no spoilers from the final!

Is she bitter no one listened to her about Alan? Why did everyone underestimate Joe Marler? What did Claire tell the producers they should change about the game? And how did Claire know Celia was going to fart?

Plus we look back at two huge interviews on the podcast th...

13 years ago, a teenage education activist in Pakistan was attacked by the Taliban — catapulting her onto the global stage. Malala Yousafzai went on to become a global icon and the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner.

This week, she joined Jon and Emily to discuss her powerful new book, reflecting on the journey from her early activism in Pakistan to becoming one of the world’s most influential advocates for girls’ education. She...

Overnight, progressives in New York witnessed a political earthquake. A resounding win on a high turnout for the city’s first Muslim mayor - a democratic socialist with robust ideas about capitalism. Was it his youth? His clear cut policies? Or was it his authenticity that energised the city’s voters? And are there lessons to be learned for how politics should be done here in 2025?

Health Minister, Wes Streeting, joins us to talk a...