The News Agents

This time last year, Rachel Reeves pledged that her tax raising Budget “wiped the slate clean” and would mean no more need for future tax raids. Today demonstrably proved what a hostage to fortune those comments were. As a result of the Chancellor’s statement today - shambolically accidentally leaked by the OBR before she had got to her feet - the tax burden is due to reach an all time high by the end of the decade. Due to her tax threshold freezes, one in four workers will pay the higher rate of income tax by 2030. There were unmistakably Labour themes in this Budget too - a mansion tax, the end of the two child benefit cap, betting firms also hit with further taxes. But is her calculation the right one? Will the voters stomach tax rises to pay for public services a ballooning welfare state? Or was this about securing her position in the party - if not the country? And what has happened to the Government’s mission for growth?

Jon and Lewis speak to Torsten Bell, the Treasury minister and so-called ‘mastermind’ behind this Budget.

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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 Radio 4 broadcast of his lecture. He's said today that he was informed that the decision to remove the accusation was taken at the “highest levels within the BBC”. The BBC has insisted the decision was taken on legal advice. So why was the line pulled? And is the threat of Donald Trump's legal action now influencing the editorial decisions of the BBC?

Later, with Nigel Farage on the back foot over the allegations he made racist remarks as a schoolboy - does the Reform UK leader have a glass jaw?

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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 would be able to stay on if he accepted the terms. And computer analysis of the text suggested that the plan may have indeed been written in Russian before being translated into English.

Donald Trump then floated a Thanksgiving deadline for a deal. So what's behind America's fresh urgency for an end to the conflict in Ukraine? Is Russia determining the terms of any deal? And does anyone in the White House care?

Later - Mamdani's masterclass in how to handle an Oval Office summit, and why Donald Trump may have seen something of himself in the New York mayor-elect.

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 Nottingham home - to discuss the hard choices ahead, the future of this Government, Brexit, populism, and much else besides

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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 Hickman, Deputy Chief Executive of Football Beyond Borders.

Plus we look back at this week on The Sports Agents, from illegal streaming wars to The Ashes.

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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 Michael Crick - broadcaster and Farage biographer. We invited him onto the Newsagents studio to ask if he thought Farage was racist then, and now?

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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 Party started to imagine life beyond Starmer?

Later, what is the corruption scandal now engulfing Ukraine - and can Zelenskyy survive it? His moves to curb the powers of the anti-corruption agency have worried EU powers. Where does the hundred million dollar scandal leave the war effort against Russia?

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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.

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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 unworkable - but she’s found a fan in one Tommy Robinson who hailed the shifting of the Overton window in an unlikely weekend Tweet. Will that cheering send shivers down the spines of Labour MPs? And is the policy workable? Jon and Emily speak to the senior backbencher Stella Creasy about her concerns.

Later, Trump has had a change of heart on releasing those potentially incriminating Epstein files - why?!

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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 ultimately save his premiership.

This episode was recorded before reports of a Labour tax u-turn.

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