The News Agents

Looking and sounding rather like a frat boy emerging from a hazing, Pete Hegseth arrived blinking, bombastic and victorious into his press conference this morning to declare complete success in his Epic Fury military campaign in Iran.
He was quick to castigate America's ungrateful allies - telling the world that they should be thanking President Trump - and cracked a few jokes about Iranian ships being at the bottom of the ocean.
Outside the Pentagon's echo chamber, the world looks rather different. Iran's regime holds many of the cards in this conflict. And it’s making Trump sweat. Control of the shipping lanes gives Iran control of the price of oil and thus much of the world economy. And they’re acting like an army of insurgents - pounding energy infrastructure across the Middle East, sending gas prices rocketing. So how does America find a way out? Or is Trump's only play now to go all in and send in the troops?
Later - anyone remember the 70s? Ted Heath's dire warning to the nation that life would no longer be as we know it has some uncomfortable parallels for the current occupant of No 10. Should we prepare for everything we’ve taken for granted to change? And should Keir Starmer be rethinking his entire premiership as a result of this war?
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Nick Timothy is the Conservative shadow justice secretary. This week, he took issue with Muslims gathering in Trafalgar Square to celebrate the last week of Ramadan and the breaking of the Iftar fast with prayer. He called the gathering an "act of dominance" in a Christian country - right beside a church. Does Kemi Badenoch agree with him? Tommy Robinson certainly does...
Later - why has Ofcom got no teeth when it comes to GB News? A major investigation by The New World puts the question to the media regulator. And gets little response. Sir Ed Davey raised it with the Prime Minister today. Has GB News simply become 'Reform TV'? We speak to Alan Rusbridger.
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Donald Trump's Oval Office ramblings are nothing new. But last night was off the scale. He thrashed out at allies. Castigated his friends. Contradicted himself. Lied about former presidents in a way that was painfully easy to disprove and sounded like a man who’d missed his meds.
More significant than any of this is how the rest of the world received it: with a shrug - and very little anxiety or action. Has Trump lost the room? And the war?
And, as the first resignation comes in from his director of counter terrorism centre, could we be reaching a turning point where Trump is no longer scaring people in the way he once did?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Last night, President Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was "demanding" allies provided back up in the Strait of Hormuz and send ships to keep the supply of oil flowing.
“If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response", he warned, "I think it will be very bad for the future of Nato."
Keir Starmer’s response this morning was clear - the PM insisting that the UK would not be dragged into a wider war. Instead, he’s working with European allies on a "viable plan" to ease the crisis. Others have used even stronger language. The Germans have said the war has "nothing to do with NATO". Luxembourg's deputy PM has warned his country won't listen to "blackmail". Italy has rejected Trump's request. Others too, are deciding that they no longer need to pander to the man in the White House.
Has Europe reached a fundamental turning point now when it comes to America? Does it see Trump - and his war -as a toxic asset? And how do we navigate lower oil prices in the midst of this geopolitical chaos?
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Just over a year ago, Lewis spoke to Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire, co-authors of the authoritative account of Keir Starmer's rise to power 'Get In: The Inside Story of Labour under Starmer'.
Their book shone a light on the weird political inertia at the heart of the Starmer project, often lacking in instinct, allies, and any particular ideological belief. Morgan McSweeney was the driving force behind the operation that thrust him into Downing Street - his authority draining the second he picked his cabinet.
McSweeney is now gone. The Mandelson scandal still poses a potentially existential threat to Starmer's premiership. The UK has been sucked into a conflict Starmer did not want to fight. The local elections in two months' time look like they will be brutal.
Gabriel and Patrick have just released the updated paperback edition of their book. Does it take us any closer to understanding who is the real Keir Starmer?
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