This is a Global Player original podcast.

Welcome to Sweeney Talks.

It's a podcast series where I get to interview people who've done serious stuff with their lives and then got into trouble.

Big trouble.

I'm not here to lecture them about that.

I'm kind of a professor of big trouble ology myself.

I've got history with the Church of Scientology, North Korea, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin,

Tommy Robinson and the Russian army. I'm here to find out what it feels like to be in the deep doo-doo.

How you survive it, and then how the hell you get out of it.

If you've been in trouble, you're not alone.

So, come along for the ride.

You might learn some new tricks.

You might have a laugh, but one thing is sure.

The best stories aren't told by the well-behaved. And once you've listened to the interview, you can hear what I really think

about it, In Sweeney keeps talking. Find that exclusively on Global Player.

Soldier with free tours of Afghanistan under his belt.

Warrior for Veterans Rights,

Today's guest has been in and out of trouble and the cabinet.

So much, it's almost as if he likes it. I first met Johnny Mercer in the spring,

outside the McDonald's in Kiev. He's a Tory, everyone go boo. But he was also the first British MP to visit the Ukrainian capital when the Russian army was still at the gates. He and his

camera team went off to the front line.

That evening I took him to the Wennavista bar and bought him a drink or two. The next day,

...