Labour's prison crisis is spiralling out of control, and victims are paying the price.

With dangerous sex offenders set to walk free after serving just a third of their sentences, Kemi Badenoch is urging Labour MPs to back an amendment to stop the early release scheme. 

Grooming gang survivors, including the courageous Fiona Goddard, say the system has failed them twice over. Meanwhile, convicted child rapist Shabbir Ahmed — guilty of 30 offences — could be back on British streets, with Labour only now scrambling for an emergency deportation law.

Then, the benefits timebomb: over 100,000 people are claiming disability payments for ADHD with zero requirement to seek work — up 40% in just two years. 

Julia and commentator Sam Armstrong ask the hard questions about a system being gamed by many, whilst failing those who genuinely need support.

And Nigel Farage faces mounting pressure from the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over undeclared gifts — but is this legitimate scrutiny or a coordinated establishment takedown?

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

 Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord Daniel Hannan and Sir Iain Duncan Smith on Andy Burnham’s vague route to No10, Nigel Farage’s funding row, Britain’s broken welfare state, Trump’s NATO ultimatum and why Labour risks becoming the biggest appeasement government since the 1930s — plus England’s World Cup thriller and the row over who really pays for our politics

Keir Starmer’s premiership may be collapsing into its final act… but Julia Hartley-Brewer asks whether the man almost certain to replace him, Andy Burnham, is facing anything like the scrutiny he deserves.

Lord Daniel Hannan warns the media may be repeating the mistake it made with Starmer: letting a would-be prime minister glide into power on warm words, vague promises and slogans about “change” — without asking what he would actually do.

Burnham talks localism, council houses and transformation, but Hannan says the real tests are brutal: will he tear up the regulations, judicial reviews and eco-rules that stop Britain building homes, infrastructure and energy projects? And will he genuinely decentralise power — including giving councils real responsibility over welfare?

Sir Iain Duncan Smith is even blunter, saying Burnham’s pitch is so vague that even students are asking what he actually means. “No second chance”, “change”, “localism” — but where is the detail on tax, welfare, industry, housing, net zero or defence?

Also: Nigel Farage faces mounting scrutiny over wealthy backers, including a £5 million gift from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne and support from George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster and long-time friend.

Hannan says the row is damaging Reform’s claim to be different — but warns Farage may be hoping for a hostile ruling so he can cast himself as the victim of an establishment stitch-up. Duncan Smith says the answer is simple: declare everything, apologise if needed, and stop giving opponents ammunition.

Julia asks whether big money has too much influence in British politics altogether — and whether any donor really gives millions without expecting something in return.

Meanwhile, Britain’s welfare bill comes under fire. Hannan warns the country cannot continue spending vastly more on working-age welfare than on national defence, while Duncan Smith says the system is now riddled with perverse incentives and political cowardice.

And as Keir Starmer heads to what may be his final NATO summit, Donald Trump is demanding European allies spend 5% of GDP on defence. Duncan Smith says Trump is right: China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are forming a hostile axis, Britain is falling behind even Greece and Poland, and Labour’s defence uplift is unfunded fantasy.

His verdict: Britain risks going down as the biggest appeasement government since the 1930s.

Plus: England’s dramatic World Cup win in Mexico, whether sporting glory can ever really rescue a prime minister, and why national morale may not be enough to save Starmer now.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer’s Britain is facing yet another law-and-order meltdown — and Julia Hartley-Brewer is not letting ministers off the hook.

Rochdale grooming gang ringleader Shabbir Ahmed, known sickeningly as “Daddy”, is due to be released from prison despite being convicted of 30 rape and sexual offences against girls, including a child as young as 12. Stripped of British citizenship but unable to be deported to Pakistan thanks to an immigration loophole, his victims say they were promised justice — and betrayed again.

Former military intelligence officer Philip Ingram joins Julia to ask why Parliament can pass emergency laws for British Steel, but not to protect British girls.

Also: a BBC investigation tracks down convicted people smuggler Twanna Jamal, once branded the “godfather” of the French migrant camps, allegedly living under a false name in Leicester, driving a BMW and running businesses — while immigration authorities appear powerless or unwilling to act.

Julia and Philip also take aim at Shabana Mahmood’s immigration crackdown, warning that its “disproportionate impact” loophole could leave foreign offenders free to remain in Britain.

There’s also fury over a growing £5 billion defence black hole, with questions over whether Starmer’s promised military uplift exists at all — while Russian drones, spy ships and sanctioned tankers probe Britain’s nuclear sites and NATO defences.

Plus: claims from a former MI6 officer that Peter Mandelson was viewed by Russian intelligence as a “privileged contact”, and what that really means in the world of espionage.

Then Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg joins Julia from College Green to argue that Britain must change primary legislation, override human rights obstacles and leave the ECHR if it wants to deport foreign criminals and protect the public.

And finally: Starmer issues a formal apology to victims of forced adoption — but Rees-Mogg questions whether today’s maternity scandals should be the Government’s real priority.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer's much-hyped defence investment plan has unravelled… and retired British Army Colonel Tim Collins OBE is still unimpressed. 

With nearly £5 billion unaccounted for, ammunition stockpiles at zero, and Type 45 destroyers that simply don't work, Britain's military is in crisis. 

Collins warns we are already at war in the cyber realm, that Poland and the Baltic states are watching Britain's retreat with alarm, and that conscription may now be inevitable.

Also: two police officers face gross misconduct charges over the death of Henry Nowak — handcuffed as he lay dying whilst his killer was treated as the victim. 

A judge hands youth rehabilitation orders to teenage rapists who used a knife, filmed their crimes, and shared the footage. 

Grooming gang ringleader Shabbir Ahmed, convicted of 30 child rape offences, is due for release tomorrow — and the government appears powerless to deport him. 

And villagers in Shropshire discover that brand-new homes promised as social housing have been quietly earmarked for asylum seekers.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Burnham finally stepped into the spotlight with his long-awaited leadership pitch — but behind the buzzwords and feel-good slogans, political writer Brendan O'Neill says there was precious little substance. 

No plan for immigration, no mention of defence, no serious reckoning with net zero, and rumours that Ed Miliband could become Chancellor. Is this really the man who wants to lead Britain?

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer's defence investment plan has landed after his Defence secretary resigned over its shortfalls — and it's drawing fire again. 

Lord Alan West, former First Sea Lord, says the money is back-loaded, the short-term gaps are dangerous, and Britain's military readiness is in a dire state. Not a single nuclear attack submarine has been operational for years. Deploying one destroyer to Cyprus took two weeks. 

Starmer had the political capital and the parliamentary majority to fix it — and he failed.

From devolution delusions to drone warfare, procurement failures to the crippling cost of the nuclear deterrent — this is a frank, forensic look at where British politics and national security are heading.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andy Burnham has finally broken cover to flesh out a vision of what he’d do with power in No10... but his grand vision didn't go much beyond English devolution and a sentimental commitment to give people 'hope in their hearts'.

 As the Manchester Mayor delivers his first major set-piece speech as Prime Minister-in-waiting, Julia Hartley-Brewer tears apart his 10-year plan to strip Whitehall of power and hand it to regional mayors. 

Will devolving decisions northward actually deliver growth, cut welfare, fund defence, and tackle mass immigration — or is it just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic? With a side of additional bureaucracy?

Independent Hull East MP Karl Turner joins Julia, offering cautious optimism about Burnham's track record in Manchester. 

Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch anticipated Burnham with a speech of her own, accusing Labour of heading into a summer of chaos with no plan and no mandate.

Plus: the Home Secretary's asylum shake-up — could untrained members of the public really replace judges on immigration panels? 

Julia and former Conservative adviser Claire Pearsall are not convinced.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Britain's maternity scandal has been exposed in a fulsome report — revealing criminal negligence dressed up in bureaucratic incompetence. 

Hundreds of mothers and babies died or were left seriously injured at Nottingham University NHS Trust over 13 years, while it seems managers prioritised self-protection over saving lives. 

Julia Hartley-Brewer and former senior military intelligence officer Philip Ingram MBE tear into a toxic culture of cover-ups, box-ticking, and wasted six-figure salaries — while babies died. 

Former Sun political editor Trevor Kavanagh joins to ask why nobody ever seems to get sacked for these major failings. 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has dismissed Andy Burnham as the mayor of a small town who is "extremely liberal" — sharing no warm wishes for the new PM tasked with turning the country round. With no Chancellor chosen, no policies confirmed, and his authority already crumbling, Burnham's leadership faces HUGE headwinds before it's even taken off.

Plus: Kemi Badenoch's savage PMQs demolition of the Starmer government, heatwave hysteria, and homeowners being forced to rip out their air conditioning.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The defence community are sounding the alarm over Britain's crumbling defences. 

Former Head of the British Army, General Sir Peter Wall, joins Julia to lay bare the stark reality: the UK has gone from NATO's leading European nation to the bottom of the pile, with a defence funding gap so severe that the military is expecting to make significant cuts. 

With Keir Starmer limping toward a NATO summit empty-handed, and Andy Burnham preparing for a coronation without a plan, is there hope of a safe Britain?

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pulls no punches on Britain's decline, the net-zero obsession strangling economic dynamism, and why a country that once assembled 40 warships in 48 hours now takes two weeks to deploy a single destroyer.

Also: the grooming gang inquiry expands to London — so what does that mean for Sadiq Khan's repeated denials? Julia and Benedict Spencer dig in.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ten years on from the biggest democratic vote in British history, Nigel Farage joins Julia Hartley-Brewer to take stock of what Brexit delivered — and where the political class failed to implement it.  

Immigration went through the roof, EU regulations were barely touched, and the promises made to 17 million voters were quietly buried. 

But is Brexit itself to blame?

With Keir Starmer apparently on his way out and Andy Burnham positioning himself for a coronation as Prime Minister — with no mandate, no manifesto, and no general election — Farage argues Britain is not just ungovernable, it is broken.

Julia also presses Farage hard on the £5 million gift from a crypto billionaire in Thailand — an unconditional payment he refused to declare and still refuses to fully explain. 

Is Reform ready for a snap election? And could a pact with the Conservatives ever happen?

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keir Starmer has resigned as leader of the Labour Party after losing the confidence of his MPs.

In reaction, Julia says Starmer was “dragged kicking and screaming” from the leadership after a disastrous premiership defined by broken promises, winter fuel cuts, tax rises, digital ID, the Chagos deal and failure on welfare reform.

Former Conservative adviser Clare Pearsall joins Julia to assess Starmer’s downfall and whether Andy Burnham, now widely expected to take over, can offer anything more than “Keir Starmer in a black T-shirt”.

Also: Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice celebrates Starmer’s exit and calls for a general election, warning Burnham has “no mandate” for a new socialist agenda. He also sets out Reform’s pitch on immigration, net zero and taking on Labour.

And independent MP Karl Turner, who lost the Labour whip under Starmer, gives his verdict on the resignation, Burnham’s likely leadership, and whether he expects to return to the Labour fold.

Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. 

Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.