The News Agents

The day after Tony Blair spoke to The News Agents we ask whether his comments have started a healthy debate, changed the leadership race, or galvanised the whole party against him. The only man to win three elections for Labour speaks from experience and confidence. But is his diagnosis right for today? Will he ever be trusted on foreign affairs? And is efficacy more important than Democracy in 2026?
Later, we talk to Alan Milburn who’s basically diagnosed that Britain is pretty f****d for young people. What’s the answer?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Since Keir Starmer took office almost two years ago - the first Labour Prime Minister in 14 years - Tony Blair has been holding his tongue.
But that has all changed in a dramatic fashion. Blair is profoundly concerned, about the UK's future, the leadership of his party, and of the wider political conversation taking place.
In a 5,700 word essay, he lays out a brutal assessment of the lack of serious policy thinking going on in government, warns of a "slide towards relegation from the Premier League of nations", and pens what is effectively his own manifesto to try and turn the country's fortunes around.
Today on The News Agents - an in depth interview with the former PM. Why has he broken his silence now? What does he make of the leadership conversation taking place in Labour? And how does he believe Britain can halt its slide into irrelevance?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Robert Kenyon, Reform's candidate in Makerfield, was a week on from defending his Facebook Nazi friend when things got ugly. Over the sunny bank holiday weekend old tweets resurfaced showing not only his utterly creepy views about women but also his original anti-Brexit stance. And yes, you can guess which one is the real headache for Reform. Polls suggest they are currently in second place behind Andy Burnham, with the even harder right Restore party snapping at their heels and threatening to eat into the vote. So is it time to take action? Or just dig in behind their candidate?
A Reform UK spokesman said: “We fully back Cllr Kenyon. He is an excellent, local candidate who we are confident will be a superb MP for Makerfield."
Later, questions for Nicola Sturgeon resurface over her “lack of curiosity“ surrounding her convicted ex husbands ten year spending spree of stolen funds. Is First Minister, John Swinney, in the firing line too?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

As billionaire wealth soars to unprecedented heights, calls to “tax the rich” are getting louder across the world. But while politicians on the left often champion wealth taxes, governments have repeatedly struggled to make them work in practice. So why have they failed? And could that finally be changing?
This Friday, Lewis is joined by French economist Gabriel Zucman, the architect of the so-called “Zucman Tax” and one of the most influential voices in the global debate on inequality. Drawing on his new book We Need to Tax Billionaires, Zucman explains how extreme wealth has created what some see as two separate economic realities: ordinary citizens on one side, and a billionaire class operating on an entirely different political and financial plane on the other.
From private jets to ballooning fortunes, why have traditional tax systems have struggled to keep up? And could a coordinated global approach to taxing billionaires reshape democracy itself?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Before he was ever taken seriously as a politician, Donald Trump was very much taken seriously in the world of wrestling.
His relationship with WWE stretches back as far as the 1980s - he went on to headline Wrestlemania and even challenged founder Vince McMahon to a match during a running feud.
But what if wrestling was where Trump learned how to win the White House? Reality-defying performances, smack talk, and stunts are, after all, quintessentially Trumpian techniques.
Munya Chawawa thinks that Trump's origin story in politics might start in the ring - and came into the studio to discuss why.
Later, it was announced today that net migration has fallen by almost half, to its lowest level since the Covid pandemic. But will Keir Starmer be able to claim any credit for it?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/