The Fourcast

Channel 4 News

A podcast from Channel 4 News taking an in-depth look at the biggest stories from Westminster, Washington and around the world. From global conflicts to the corridors of power, we expose, examine and interrogate what's really going on with the people who really know.

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https://www.channel4.com/news/the-fourcast

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256 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes256

Newest first

Oct 7, 2025 · 29 min
Will the Conservatives sack Kemi Badenoch?
As Kemi Badenoch fights for her political life at the Conservative Party conference, the Tories face a growing threat from the right. With high-profile defections to Reform UK and deep internal divisions, is this the beginning of the end for the Conservative Party?In this episode of the Fourcast, Cathy Newman speaks with former deputy prime minister and Conserative MP Baroness Therese Coffey, and Lord Daniel Finklestein, columnist for The Times and also a Tory peer. They unpack the party’s identity crisis and ask whether the Tories can survive or if British politics is undergoing a major and irreversable realignment.
Oct 6, 2025 · 14 min
Can the Conservatives survive Farage squeeze? | Shadow Chancellor interview
The Conservative Party Conference is underway in Manchester where the Tories are in turmoil, trailing badly in the polls and staring down electoral oblivion as they are squeezed between Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride joins Cathy Newman on this episode of The Fourcast to explain how the Conservatives plan to regain momentum and rebuild their reputation as the party of economic competence — but is it too little, too late?
Oct 2, 2025 · 33 min
‘Nigel Farage isn’t your average posh boy’ - Nadine Dorries
Nadine Dorries was once a Tory loyalist and Boris Johnson’s closest ally — now she’s defected to Reform UK, the party leading the polls under Nigel Farage. She claims Farage is the only leader who can deliver the change communities need, but are Reform’s headline promises really workable? And how does Dorries reconcile joining a party whose leader launches blistering attacks on her old boss, Boris Johnson? She joins Cathy Newman for her first sit down interview since defecting.
Sep 30, 2025 · 15 min
Labour’s deputy leader race - who is Bridget Phillipson?
Labour’s deputy leadership contender and Keir Starmer ally Bridget Phillipson joins Krishnan Guru-Murthy on The Fourcast to set out her vision for the party. She talks about the threat from Reform UK and Nigel Farage, and how she would still hold Keir Starmer to account even though she’s a cabinet minister and widely believed to be the prime minister’s preferred choice. Plus - does she prefer Tony Blair or Gordon Brown?
Sep 29, 2025 · 19 min
Can Rachel Reeves grow the economy?
Rachel Reeves’ big speech on the economy dominates the second day of the Labour Party conference. Ahead of the November budget, the chancellor warns that there will be harder choices and refuses to rule out tax rises. But with growth sluggish, polls tightening and Reform making gains, can Labour really deliver the change it promised?In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murphy speaks to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury James Murray to discuss the prospect of tax rises, and how Labour plans to tackle immigration, the cost of living and the UK’s growing debt.
Sep 25, 2025 · 27 min
Fired for Charlie Kirk comments: press freedom in Trump's America
Award-winning Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah was sacked after posts she made about Charlie Kirk on social media sparked a storm of controversy. Her dismissal has become a flashpoint in the debate over free speech, newsroom policies, and the future of press freedom in America.In this episode of The Fourcast, Karen Attiah speaks to Cathy Newman, reflecting on the circumstances of her firing, the political pressures facing journalists, and why she believes her case is a test for how far opinion writers can go in today’s media climate.
Sep 18, 2025 · 1 hr 10 min
Israel Palestine: is a two-state solution still possible?
As a UN commission concludes that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and international pressure grows with more nations, including the UK, moving toward recognising a Palestinian state, is there any hope for a two-state solution?Can Israel and Palestine ever coexist side by side in peace, or has the violence, mistrust and the events of October the 7th and its aftermath made that dream impossible?In this special extended episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined in Jerusalem by Alan Baker, a former legal adviser to Israel’s foreign ministry who helped draft the Oslo Accords, Yariv Oppenheimer, a human rights lawyer, Dr. Hassan Jabareen, the head of Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, and the former managing editor of the Jerusalem Post Tovah Lazaroff. In relation to some of the claims made in the podcast, Israel's Foreign Ministry has categorically rejected the UN commission's report calling it "distorted and false" and Israel has always strenuously denied all claims of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in relation to the Palestinian people.
Sep 16, 2025 · 31 min
UN commission says Israel is committing genocide - Marwan Barghouthi’s son reacts
A UN commission investigating the Gaza war has concluded that Israel is committing genocide, adding its voice to growing international concern from legal scholars and human rights organisations. It doesn’t have the force of a court or the UN Security Council. But as a commission of eminent legal experts, its findings carry significant moral weight. Arab Barghouthi is the son of Marwan Barghouthi, who is perhaps the most popular Palestinian leader in the occupied territories. He has been in jail for two decades after refusing to take part in the legal process that ultimately convicted him of being involved in attacks that led to the deaths of five people. He denied involvement. In the podcast Arab Barghouthi makes claims about his father's alleged mistreatment in prison. The Israeli prison service has previously responded to these allegations by saying that they have been examined in court which concluded that there had been no violation of the law by the Israeli Prison Service. It also said that all detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined by official authorities. Israel's Foreign Ministry has categorically rejected the UN commission's report calling it "distorted and false". Israel has always strenuously denied all claims of genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid in relation to the Palestinian people.
Sep 11, 2025 · 28 min
Peter Mandelson and Epstein: how much did Starmer know?
For the third time in his political career, Peter Mandelson has fallen from high office in a scandal linked to rich and powerful men - this time it was his relationship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein that was his undoing. Lord Mandelson was sacked from his role as UK ambassador to the US after leaked emails showed him offering support for Epstein even after a sex offence conviction. Downing Street said the Prime Minister found 'the depth and extent of the relationship reprehensible.' But questions are now being asked about Keir Starmer's judgement in appointing him in the first place given Lord Mandelson has attracted - some would say courted - controversy throughout his career. He was widely considered to be doing a good job in Washington though, with a good rapport with President Trump. Is that relationship now damaged? On the latest episode of the Fourcast, Cathay Newman was joined by the Labour peer Ayesha Hazarika, the author and political journalist Ian Dunt who has written extensively on Lord Mandelson and the film-maker Richard Sanders who produced the Dispatches documentary that first revealed the friendship between the two men.
Sep 5, 2025 · 31 min
What does Angela Rayner's resignation mean for Labour?
Angela Rayner has resigned as Deputy Prime Minister following revelations that she failed to pay the correct tax on a new home. But what does her departure mean for Keir Starmer, the Labour Party, and the future of the government? In today’s episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Tom Baldwin, former Labour communications chief, Guardian columnist Zoe Williams and Sir Craig Oliver, ex-Director of Communications for David Cameron, to unpack the political fallout and what it means for Labour’s leadership.
Sep 2, 2025 · 32 min
Is Zack Polanski the Left's answer to Nigel Farage?
The Green Party in England and Wales has a new leader and by an overwhelming majority members picked the candidate from the radical left-wing of the party - Zack Polanski. His campaign focussed on poverty and Palestine rather than plants or the planet. He’s a former actor, a member of the London Assembly, though not actually a member of parliament. So, is he now the voice of progressive populism that can take on Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn?
Aug 26, 2025 · 19 min
Does the UK really want Nigel Farage’s mass deportation plan?
Nigel Farage has put mass deportations at the centre of his new immigration plan — promising to detain and remove hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from the UK. While Reform UK currently has only four MPs, polling suggests they could win the next election and be in a position to implement this. It's a striking escalation in the rhetoric around immigration — raising the question of whether this marks a turning point in British politics. Has anything like this been attempted before, is it even possible, and how does it fit into the long, often heated history of immigration policy in the UK? On this episode of The Fourcast, Cathy Newman is joined by Jacqueline McKenzie, a partner at the human rights law firm Leigh Day who specialises in immigration and asylum cases, and journalist and author David Goodhart who is the head of demography, immigration and integration at the Policy Exchange think tank.
Aug 19, 2025 · 31 min
Inside Trump’s meetings with Putin and Zelenskyy
Donald Trump has just met both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the same week - two leaders locked in a war that has reshaped global security. For Putin, the meeting with Trump offered legitimacy and a chance to show that Russia is still a power the US must engage with. For Zelenskyy, it was about survival, pressing Trump to keep American support flowing as Ukraine fights for its future.So what really happened behind those closed doors and what does it mean for NATO, Europe and the wider world? In this episode of The Fourcast, Matt Frei speaks to Emily Ferris from RUSI and William Alberque, a specialist on arms control and NATO, to explore what Trump’s diplomacy tells us about the next phase of the war - and America’s role in it.
Aug 14, 2025 · 25 min
UN aid chief demands Israel opens Gaza border
Charged with looking after the United Nations’ humanitarian projects - from Israel’s aid blockade in Gaza to the crisis in Sudan, Tom Fletcher was recently described as having the ‘toughest job in the world’. But he disagrees. “The toughest job in the world”, he says, “is sitting there watching your kid having his arm cut off in a hospital without an anaesthetic.”In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Tom Fletcher about why aid is not reaching those who need it most, in Gaza and beyond. He warns that global humanitarian needs are greater than ever, with crises in Sudan, Yemen and Ukraine, and makes a plea to the world to “step up” on Gaza crisis response.
Aug 13, 2025 · 53 min
Chris Bryant MP on sexuality, abuse, and his time as a priest
Chris Bryant MP has lived many lives - from a childhood in Franco’s Spain to serving as a priest in the Church of England, and now more than two decades in Parliament. He reflects on growing up gay when it was still illegal, the abuse he endured as a young man in the National Youth Theatre, and how Section 28 drove him away from the Conservative Party. In this episode of The Fourcast, he tells Krishnan Guru-Murthy what power looks like behind closed doors, and why speaking out about abuse matters. This episode includes discussion about sexual assault. You can find where to access help and support with these issues at: www.channel4.com/4viewers/help-support
Aug 6, 2025 · 26 min
Is the ‘woke’ backlash killing body positivity? - From Sydney Sweeney ad to Zara models ban
Is fashion the latest thing to be swallowed into politics, culture war and the backlash on woke? Stick-thin models with protruding bones were the marketing choice of Zara for a new campaign - the ad has just been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority as irresponsible. And the fallout from Sydney Sweeney's ad campaign for American Eagle jeans keeps growing - a few years ago accusations of white supremacy and promoting the right wing might have caused a share price to plummet. But after Donald Trump described the ad as the hottest ad out there American Eagle stock rocketed. Are we back in the 90's or even the 30's? Ad agencies have always looked for ways to get noticed - but is the war on woke also sweeping away years of progress on body positivity and diversity? On this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by Katie Glass, who writes for the Times and Megan Jayne Crabbe - a writer, presenter and activist for body positivity and feminism.
Jul 29, 2025 · 20 min
Oscar-winning director: West Bank situation 'escalating' after friend shot dead
The world's eyes are on Gaza as the enclave faces mass starvation, but the war there is also emboldening Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.Odeh Hadalin is a Palestinian teacher and activist who campaigned against illegal Israeli settlements and settler violence. He also helped make this year's Oscar-winning film No Other Land which documents Israeli attacks on the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta.It was there that he was shot dead, reportedly after a confrontation between villagers and settlers who were using a bulldozer to destroy property.An extremist settler, previously sanctioned by the US, has been arrested.Around a thousand Palestinians have reportedly been killed in the West Bank in the last two years amid an increasing wave of settler and Israeli military violence.Joining Matt Frei on this week's episode of The Fourcast is the Palestinian film-maker Basel Adra. He co-wrote and co-directed No Other Land and was a friend of Odeh.
Jul 28, 2025 · 32 min
Will UK anti-migrant protests explode into riots again?
A year ago, towns across Britain were in flames as far-right anti-immigration protests turned into riots, while this week the Police Federation called recent protests in Epping a 'signal flare’ for further unrest. So with the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats actually up and social media - not to mention certain MPs - pumping out inflammatory comments, is another summer flare-up inevitable? And how do the police , the politicians and the protesters themselves distinguish between the genuine concerns of dispossessed communities, and the gratuitous violence of far-right racists? On this episode of The Fourcast, Jackie Long is joined by Sunder Katwala, director of the think-tank British Future which focuses on diversity and social inclusion, the academic Lisa McKenzie, who writes primarily about working-class communities and class inequality, and Adam Kelwick, imam of the UK's oldest mosque in Liverpool who came to prominence during last year's riots with his attempts at dialogue with protesters.
Jul 23, 2025 · 26 min
'It's ripping MAGA apart': David Pakman on Trump, Epstein and Dems future
Donald Trump is under pressure, again, this time over his alleged ties to the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. As the scandal grows, the Speaker of the House has shut down Congress, seemingly to avoid any further questions being raised on the floor. Trump knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s and Epstein’s longtime pilot, Lawrence Visoski, has testified that Trump flew on Epstein's private plane multiple times. Trump has denied ever being on the plane and there is no evidence he was involved in wrongdoing. But now, even Trump’s usual allies in the alt-right world of podcasts and influencers are turning on him. So what happens when the support base that’s shielded Trump for years starts to crumble? On today's episode of the Fourcast, David Pakman, host of The David Pakman Show and author of The Echo Machine, joins us to break it all down.
Jul 16, 2025 · 38 min
Do Democrats need to move right to take on Trump?
In America the Democrats are in crisis — leaderless, divided, and drifting after Donald Trump’s return to power, and on the left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Bernie Sanders and the Democrat's New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani are seizing the moment, but is their radicalism the way to beat Trump's Maga bandwagon? Or will they end up alienating the majority of working class America? Tim Ryan, a senior advisor for the Progressive Policy Institute, is the former Ohio Congressman who stood for the senate but lost to JD Vance. He also threw his hat in the ring for the Democrats Presidential nomination when Joe Biden won it. He wants to haul his party back to focus on what he sees as the central concerns of working class voters - their cost of living and the fairness of the system, as well as working with business not against it - what he sometimes calls more of a Bill Clinton style. But is that really the answer to a Democrat resurrection?