Are American billionaires trying to reshape British politics?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 15 October 2025
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
JD Vance has had his sights on the UK since becoming vice president - fixating on our free speech laws, criticising Britain in strong terms.
But is that part of a wider movement? There is evidence of a growing concerted effort, by rich and organised American advocacy groups, setting their sights on the UK, trying to influence public mood and indeed politics itself.
Tommy Robinson is claiming that his legal bills are being funded by Elon Musk, and a new report from the New York Times suggests that one American organisation is set on shifting opinions here on abortion. We speak to the investigative reporter Jane Bradley.
Lewis and Emily dissect a combative PMQs over the China spying row - is this now a he said-she said row or is there more serious jeopardy for Keir Starmer?
And lastly, Emily asks why the toilets are being reinforced at The Royal Albert Hall...
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:07.9 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:19.2 | Welcome to the ADF Summit 2025. |
| 0:23.6 | But the good news today is that truth is stubborn. |
| 0:29.6 | The more that truth is suppressed, the harder it becomes to hide it. |
| 0:34.6 | Intending for truth is a marathon, a lifetime calling. And while it's absolutely |
| 0:40.7 | right to celebrate the victories, we recognize that we are in a much longer battle. |
| 0:49.1 | That is a glossy ad for a group you almost certainly won't have heard of, but you might start needing to know. |
| 0:57.4 | It's a Christian legal group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, and it's working to change |
| 1:03.6 | political discussion around religion, free speech, abortion in America and possibly here. |
| 1:11.6 | In America, they've succeeded in overturning 50 years of established law on a right to |
| 1:19.1 | abortion. So are they now trying to export those same hot-button culture wars issues to the UK. Welcome to the news agents. |
| 1:34.7 | The Newsagents. It's John. It's Emily. And on today's episode, we want to take you behind |
| 1:42.0 | the curtain to this group that we mentioned, the Alliance Defending Freedom, |
| 1:47.7 | because it is at the centre of some investigative reporting that the New York Times has just carried out. |
| 1:53.1 | We're going to be hearing from one of its reporters, Jane Bradley, in a moment. |
| 1:57.3 | But it looks as if the ADF is trying to be a power broker between MAGA Republicans and the British populists under the banner of Nigel Farage's Reform Party. |
| 2:11.5 | Look, the ADF is phenomenally well funded, like a lot of these right-wing groups in America are. They already |
| 2:18.9 | have the closest links to the White House. J.D. Vance works very closely with them, and their |
| 2:26.3 | influence is pretty extensive. The question is, can you export those type of politics, those |
| 2:33.7 | sort of culture wars, the concern say over |
| 2:36.5 | abortion to Britain, where let's face it, overwhelmingly, the majority view is that the abortion |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Global, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Global and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.