We have a real live Cabinet Secretary with us in News Agents HQ today - David TC Davies insists the election still winnable for the Conservatives  - and says if you want to see what Labour would do in power, then look at the mess unfolding in Wales. Is he missing something or are we?

Later, Peter Conradi - author of Who Lost Russia - takes us gently through all that is unfolding right now in Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, and why - despite the Western sanctions - it all speaks to a resurgent Putin.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

If it had been a speech about defence, it might have made more sense. But Rishi Sunak had no new policy offerings in todays pronouncement - he warned of a scary future under Starmer - then started talking about football shirts, ozempic, civic duty, literacy, and optimism.

It was, in essence, an electioneering speech - criticising labour for blaming the Tories for the last 14 years.

Meanwhile his Common Sense Minister Esther McVey has gone to war on the office lanyard.

Later, will former lawyer and indeed felon Michael Cohen make or break Trump when he appears in court this week?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

Lewis Goodall hosts a special report from Port Talbot, South Wales, where thousands of jobs are about to be lost at Tata Steel.

Port Talbot is Britain's last great steelworks, and a community has been built around it for generations. But Tata has announced 2,800 job losses across the UK as part of the closure of the site's blast furnaces and a transition to greener steelmaking.

We visited the site and the town itself, to assess the impact it could have on an economy already battered by the de-industrialisation of the 1980s.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Field Producer: Rory Symon

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

This week on The Sports Agents, Gabby & Mark took a closer look at a controversial new rule in cricket - the impact player in the IPL - and whether it's introduction became a threat to the fabric of the sport.

The Telegraph's Nick Hoult joined us in the studio to discuss it's impact on the game and whether the current domestic schedule demands too much from players.

And with the 'fight of the century' a week away between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, just how big is the latest drug scandal to hit boxing?

Two-weight world champion Carl Frampton and broadcaster Adam Catterall explore how sensation Ryan Garcia is making headlines.

Catch up with full episodes for more on how much Declan Rice's West Ham depature impacted David Moyes and his final season at the club, and just how do Real Madrid always find a way in the Champions League?

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

Did the Labour Party screw up in welcoming Natalie Elphicke into its party?

One former frontbencher tells us Keir Stamer got this wrong.

They're calling on him to now re-admit Dianne Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn into the Labour fold.

Has Keir just made his life much harder in search of onesexy headline?

Later, Is Biden about to stop arms sales to Israel - and why doesn't the Speaker of the House know about this?

And what's happening to Israel's Eurovision entry. Can we remove politics from the cultural stage?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

Very little political news is truly jaw dropping. But this morning's was. Natalie Elphicke, on the Conservative right of the party, and MP for Dover, has defected to Labour.

She crossed the floor before Prime Minister's Questions and was warmly welcomed by Keir Starmer. It was not so long ago that Rachel Reeves was telling Elphicke to "fuck off", after her comments about Marcus Rashford. And it was not so long ago Elphicke herself was defending her convicted sex offender husband as being the 'victim of dirty politics'. Is this really the new face of Labour?

Later, why has Astra Zeneca pulled it's Covid vaccine from the shelf. Is this about legal woes? Or commercial ones? And where is this country now on vaccine hesitancy?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Alex Barnett

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

The government is determined not to let a little thing like a disastrous set of local elections put it off its stride.

Over the course of the bank holiday we were told that 'the plan is working... it just needs a little more time'.

Labour is having none of it - accusing the PM of 'gaslighting' the public over the state of the UK economy.

But what if the economy DOES start to improve? What if inflation DOES start to fall? Can the public be pursuaded things... can only get better...?

We have an extended interview with Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

Later. What do Javier Milei and Liz Truss have in common? Erm, nothing. Nothing whatsoever it transpires....

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

Cip Credits:

Rachel Reeves speech on Tuesday 7th May

Andrew Mitchell on Sky News

Andrew Griffith on BBC Radio 4

Rishi Sunak on Sky News

Mark Harper speaking to Lewis Goodall on LBC

Ione Wells speaking to Javier Milei in Buenos Aires for BBC News

Liz Truss interviewed on GB News

The local election and mayoral results flood in.

How bad are they for the Tories? How much of that is Reform? And how well have Labour actually done?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

Cip Credits:

Ben Houchen with Sophie Ridge on Sky News

Rishi Sunak talking to BBC News

Andrea Leadsom with Jo Coburn on PoliticsLive on BBC Two

This week on The Sports Agents, Gabby & Mark explored whether a Premier League salary cap will actually help smaller clubs bridge the gap to the 'Big 6' and if it could lead to a bigger drain on top English talent...

Former Lioness Jill Scott was in the studio to explain why Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham is the obvious candidate to succeed Bayern Munich's Harry Kane as England captain - as they went head-to-head in the Champions League semi-finals.

And legendary boxing promoter Frank Warren joined us to reflect on his rivalry with the Hearn family, the British public's complicated relationship with Tyson Fury and the night he was shot outside one of his shows...

Catch up with the full episodes for more on Billy Vunipola's Mallorca arrest and Jadon Sancho's resurgence in Dortmund.

New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday.

After several delays, Brexit checks finally came into force this week - adding cost and delay to how small businesses can get their goods into the UK. It'll see prices pushed up on the consumer's end too.

But, you won't hear either main party discussing this in great detail. Why? As an election issue - it's almost radio silence - even as the UK becomes the worst performing economy in the G7.

We'll hear from Peter Foster from the Financial Times and What Went Wrong With Brexit on the Brexit economics and Labour's strangled relationship with this issue - and from Tim Shipman - chronicler of Brexit diaries with No Way Out - on what the Conservatives now make of the brexit they delivered.

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

https://store.global.com/collections/the-news-agents

As of this week, Rishi Sunak can boast he has sent asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Admittedly, it was just one guy. Admittedly he was paid £3k to go. Admittedly he'd already failed the asylum test to remain in Britain and admittedly - crucially - he went voluntarily. This is NOT the same forced deportation plan that Rishi promised would "stop the boats".

But don't let pesky details get you down. The headline - conveniently dropping before tomorrow's local elections - make it sound like the Rwanda plan is flying.

Later - what should you be looking out for in the Glastonbury weekend of fun that is the local elections.

And what's going on with the protests on US college campuses - are we next?

Editor: Tom Hughes

Senior Producer: Gabriel Radus

Producer: Laura FitzPatrick

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Video Production: Shane Fennelly & Arvind Badewal

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The News Agents"!

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/