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The Julia Hartley-Brewer Show
Keir Starmer’s France Small Boats Deal — and Lord Hermer’s troop ‘witch-hunt’
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Keir Starmer says closer co-operation with France will help stop the small boats crisis — but is Britain paying hundreds of millions for more failure and inaction?
Alex Phillips - stepping in for Julia - is joined by former Border Force chief Tony Smith to break down Labour’s latest Channel deal, including the extra cash for France, the promise of tougher beach enforcement, the role of French riot police, and why surveillance alone will not stop illegal crossings in the Channel.
They also look at the key questions ministers still have not answered: what happens when migrants are intercepted, why detention capacity matters, whether Belgium is now becoming a new launch point, and how people-smuggling gangs are using social media and encrypted platforms to stay one step ahead. If you want serious insight into border security, illegal migration and the real-world limits of government policy, this is essential listening.
Also: Andrew Allison from Popular Conservatism joins Alex to discuss the mounting pressure on Keir Starmer, the mood inside Labour, and the growing row around Attorney General Lord Hermer.
They examine concerns over the power of unelected figures at the heart of government, the controversy surrounding legal claims brought against British soldiers, and wider questions over who is really shaping policy on national sovereignty, immigration and the Chagos Islands.
In response to claims he had prosecuted British soldiers despite knowing claimants were lying, a spokesman for Lord Hermer said that he had “always acted with the highest professional standards, and the suggestion the Attorney acted for individuals with the knowledge that their claims were false is categorically untrue”.
Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.
Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.
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Belfast ‘Beheading’, Billions of Foreign Aid to Terrorists — and how DEI is rotting Britain away
41:07|A Sudanese man has been arrested in north Belfast following what can only be described as an attempted beheading — a horrific, graphic attack captured on video. Meanwhile, the BBC initially buried it beneath the headline: "Man taken to hospital with serious injuries after Belfast stabbing." Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by Henry Hill, Political Editor of The Critic, who explains why journalists strip out the most critical details of violent crimes — and why the Public Order Act is being weaponised to protect hypothetical racists over real victims.Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice joins live as the Belfast attacker's identity is confirmed on air. He pulls no punches: the public has a right to know the full history of this individual — now, not in two years' time after a court case. He also reacts to the bombshell Telegraph revelation that £28 billion in taxpayers' money was handed to terrorist groups including ISIS, hostile states such as Russia, and Chinese military-linked companies — through foreign aid and COVID relief loans — which was then actively covered up by the Conservative government.Lord Daniel Hannan, Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, connects the dots: a bloated, unaccountable, ideologically captured state that selects in favour of dangerous migrants, funds our enemies abroad, and then buries the evidence. He also takes aim at Kemi Badenoch's pledge to scrap the public sector equality duty — welcome, he says, but the real rot runs far deeper than any single piece of legislation.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.David Lammy disagrees with JD Vance over the Henry Nowak Fallout, Israel strikes Iran, and Labour's leadership uncertainty as Makerfield by-election looms
50:35|Keir Starmer is busying himself with AI summits and an expected announcement of social media bans for under-16s — a move that looks suspiciously timed ahead of the Makerfield by-election. Is it genuine child protection, or is it political theatre designed to sustain the PM’s legacy? Also, the murder of Henry Nowak continues to dominate the national conversation. JD Vance's claim that Henry died "the way a civilisation dies", while also placing the blame on mass migration, sparked a furious response from David Lammy — who rang up the US Vice President to tell him he was wrong. Mail on Sunday commentator Dan Hodges joins Julia to dissect whether Vance crossed a line, and why linking the killing directly to mass migration was both deliberate and dangerous. Independent MP Karl Turner goes further — calling Lammy's TV appearance an embarrassment and urging Number 10 to keep him well away from the cameras.And with Andy Burnham widely tipped to win Makerfield and launch a Labour leadership bid, both guests weigh in on whether he has any actual plan — or whether charisma and a casual wardrobe are all he's bringing to the table.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.
Bleksley Blasts Bobbies Over Nowak Tragedy
51:10|Charlie Rowley reacts as Burnham’s Makerfield pitch fuelled Labour leadership rumours, as Henry Nowak’s murder intensified policing rows and political pressure. Nowak’s family met Badenoch and Starmer, while Elon Musk’s comments drew rebukes amid calls for calm and accountability. Royal finances faced scrutiny over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s cottage arrangements, raising questions about privilege, transparency and public trust.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.Henry Nowak's family call for 'common sense' equality: Kemi Badenoch reacts to her meeting with the family
52:28|The Prime Minister and Hampshire's Chief Constable insist there is no two-tier policing. But Hampshire Police's own documents, in black and white, explicitly state that officers must not treat people the same or be colourblind. Officers who underwent the force's mandatory DEI training reported feeling pressured — afraid to say the wrong thing. One in five feared being rejected for speaking their minds. Is this institutionalised groupthink running through policing, the NHS, the civil service, and more?Brendan O'Neill argues that Keir Starmer is not protecting Henry Nowak's legacy — he is using it as a political shield to deflect scrutiny from the very policies that shaped this tragedy. Nigel Farage was heckled in the Commons while bringing up many people’s experience of two-tier policing. Yet in 2020, the same political class praised Black Lives Matter rage from the rooftops.Kemi Badenoch, fresh from a meeting with Henry's family, makes the case for sweeping away identity politics entirely — and explains why consistency under the law, not special treatment for any group, is the only path forward.Plus: Lord Mann's report recommends banning all political badges in the NHS — and Julia asks why anyone ever thought that was acceptable in the first place.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.Henry Nowak: Two-Tier Policing, Race Bias and the Death of Equality Before the Law
42:41|The murder of Henry Nowak sent shockwaves across Britain, after the body cam footage of police handcuffing a dying, stabbed teenager whilst he told them he couldn’t breathe and had been stabbed. Julia Hartley-Brewer unpacks what this case reveals: the deadly consequence of an institutionalised ideology that has infected British policing from top to bottom.Julia is joined by commentator Benedict Spence, who argues against the left’s narrative that Nigel Farage is politicising this story against the wishes of the family. He says murder is inherently political and that no victim's family holds a monopoly over public debate. Together they dissect the violent protests in Southampton, the accusations of exploitation levelled at Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch, and the uncomfortable truth that two-tier policing isn't a conspiracy theory — it's written down in black and white in policing race action plans.Then, Rick Prior — former Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, who was suspended for daring to say exactly this — joins Julia to explain how DEI training, the Police Race Action Plan, and the institutional obsession with "equality of outcomes" over equal treatment has left officers terrified of being labelled racist. The result is a culture where an accusation of racism outweighs a boy bleeding to death on the pavement.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.‘I can’t breathe’: Did two-tier policing led to Henry Nowak’s death? The case that's shaking Britain
35:33|The body cam footage from the murder of Henry Novak is incredibly disturbing. A young man, stabbed and dying, tells police four times he's been stabbed and nine times he can't breathe — and is handcuffed and left to die with two pints of blood in his lungs. His killer was never even handcuffed.Julia Hartley-Brewer doesn't hold back. She is joined by Reform UK's Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick, Shadow Policing Minister and Conservative Deputy Chairman Matt Vickers, and former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Mike Neville.Is this proof of two-tier policing in Britain? All three guests say yes. The rot, they argue, runs far deeper than two officers at a crime scene. It goes straight to the top — the College of Policing, the National Police Chiefs Council, the Home Office race action plans, and decades of critical race theory embedded throughout the establishment.Why did Keir Starmer take the knee for George Floyd but stay silent for three days after Henry Nowak's killer was convicted? Why are words treated as more dangerous than knives? And what would it actually take to tear this broken system down?Also: the Mandelson Files and the bombshell WhatsApp message from Pat McFadden that exposes exactly what Labour MPs really think about taxpayers' money.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.More Mandelson files coming ... and Nicola Sturgeon defends herself over 'crime she didn't commit'
38:08|Julia Hartley-Brewer breaks down what hundreds of bombshell texts, WhatsApps, and emails are expected to reveal about Peter Mandelson's controversial appointment as UK Ambassador to the United States. Also under discussion is Nicola Sturgeon's BBC interview in which she claims to be serving a sentence for a crime she did not commit. Julia and former Conservative government adviser Claire Pearsall question the idea that Sturgeon knew nothing about her husband Peter Murrell embezzling £400,000 from the SNP — including an £80,000 Jaguar, a £125,000 camper van, and 108 loo rolls bought the day before Sturgeon told the nation not to stockpile.Plus: the Hague rules the UK does NOT have to pay Rwanda £100 million. Was the £700 million Rwanda scheme a catastrophic waste of your money?And Tory plans for benefit ration cards for criminals — sensible policy or political fantasy?Then, political commentator James Mathewson joins for a fiery on-air clash over trans rights, Donald Trump, Reform UK, and whether James Murray is a coward for finally admitting that trans women are not women.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.Britain's ‘Lost Generation’: One in Six Young People Face a Workless Future
29:45|Over a million young people aged 16 to 24 are currently not in education, employment or training. Former Cabinet Minister Alan Milburn argues that without urgent action, that figure could rise to one in six within five years. How has this happened? Milburn points to young people’s ‘aspiration’, but a job market that is failing them, following increases to employer’s national insurance and the minimum wage. Julia adds young people’s attitudes… and failed parenting. Ryan Wayne from the Tony Blair Institute joins the show to discuss the report, as well as Tony Blair’s criticism of the government. Julia questions his boss’s legacy — mass immigration from Eastern Europe, the 50% university target, and net zero — arguing they systematically dismantled opportunities for a generation of young Brits.Lord Daniel Hannan, incoming Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs, lays out the economics that have led to our current malaise: punishing hikes in National Insurance, the Rayner Employment Rights Bill, and a near two-thirds rise in the minimum wage since lockdown have made hiring young people a risk too far for businesses. Add to that a welfare system riddled with perverse incentives, a surge in mental health diagnoses with patients coached by online influencers, and a lockdown hangover we've barely begun to recover from — and the picture is bleak.Also: Dame Helen Mirren, 80 years old and walking through London with her husband, is subjected to a foul-mouthed tirade by a pro-Palestine activist. Philip Ingram MBE connects the dots between Iran's Revolutionary Guard and the radicalisation driving these shocking street confrontations.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM. Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker.Blair criticises Starmer’s Labour for having no plan, the wrong policies on net zero, migration, and growth — and Reform in-fighting as Restore Britain improve in polls
36:17|Tony Blair has dropped a political bombshell on Keir Starmer's desk. In a scathing 5,700-word essay, the former Prime Minister and three-time election winner says Labour has no coherent plan to fix Britain, is governing from a "soft left comfort zone," and will lose the next general election unless it ditches net zero, slashes the welfare bill, stops the boats, and stops pretending that swapping leaders is the same as changing course.Julia Hartley-Brewer is joined by former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who finds remarkably little to disagree with in Blair's brutal assessment, despite their different parties. He breaks down exactly where this government went wrong — arriving with a historic landslide on just 33% of the vote and then standing completely still. No plan. No direction. Just a budget that hammered small businesses with national insurance hikes, a soaring minimum wage, and crippling business rates — the very engine room of British jobs and growth.IDS also reflects on his own record reforming welfare under Universal Credit — cutting between £28 and £32 billion from the budget and delivering the lowest number of workless households since records began — and why Labour's half-hearted attempts to repeat that are doomed to fail.Also: the Makerfield by-election is descending into farce, with Reform and the newly formed Restore Britain tearing chunks out of each other while Andy Burnham eyes the prize. Is this just a parade of oversized egos? Plus, Nicola Sturgeon and the motorhome that apparently nobody saw — for two years, on her mother-in-law's driveway.Julia Hartley-Brewer broadcasts on Talk from Monday to Thursday, 10AM to 1PM.Available on YouTube and streaming platforms, along with DAB+ radio and your smart speaker