The News Agents

In the last weeks, the funding of the Reform party has attracted more and more attention. This is a party which tells us they are heading to Downing street, a party tipped to the top the poll in next week’s English local elections.
We now know that Nigel Farage’s party has been given over £12m from a single donor, a Thai based British businessman, crypto billionaire, Christopher Harborne. And we also now know that just before Nigel Farage was elected an MP in 2024, Mr Harborne gave Farage a gift of £5m, never before declared.
How could it be that Reform, a party we are told which is preparing to be government, is so dependent on a Thai based crypto billionaire? What does it say about the way we fund politics? And politics to come?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

The Bank of England Monetary Policy Report might sound like a dry and dusty economic report - and often it is - but today's made for truly shocking reading for Britain.
Its analysis shows living standards are already falling and, as a result of Trump's war in Iran, inflation could go above 6%, and as many as six rises in interest rates might be needed by the end of this year. That would mean rocketing mortgages, eye-watering increases in food prices, and job layoffs with the UK economy stunned by the fallout from Trump's war with Iran. Is there any sense of a way out of this mess from the White House? Or is Trump happy to sink the global economy if it increases his chances of pummelling the regime in Tehran into submission?
Later - 40 days until the world's most prohibitively expensive World Cup kicks off. Is America actually trying to keep people away?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Two men stabbed in broad daylight in Golders Green this morning became the latest victims of what Kemi Badenoch has called a national emergency of antisemitism. The last month has seen multiple attacks on the Jewish community of North London. Is this an orchestrated attack underwritten by Iran? Or is it further proof of the escalation of antisemitism in our country since the war in Gaza and Israel?
Later, has the King nailed it in Washington? Or did that fine speech change absolutely nothing?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Morgan McSweeney was called before MPs to explain HIS version of how Mandelson was hired: was he just finding a great job for a mate? Why hadn’t he responded to all the red flag warnings? Was due process really followed? And had he put Starmer in a position where the PM wasn’t told the whole truth?
Later, Tom Baldwin - Starmer’s friend and biographer- on how, and whether, the PM can survive, and whether the high body count of sacked staff speaks to a wider malaise in his Downing Street.
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Trump has praised King Charles for pressing on with his US state visit in the wake of Saturday night's shooting, calling him ‘brave’. The President’s comments have thrust the King back into the diplomatic spotlight.
With tensions between the UK and the US compounding, it seems that Keir Starmer has deployed the King as a literal trump card. So can the King make any difference for the ‘special relationship’?
The News Agents is a Global Production.
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/