Have I Got News For You

Sue Perkins hosts for the first time in 10 years. She is joined by US comedian Michelle Wolf and journalist Tom Peck.

Sue Perkins makes her first appearance on the show since 2015. Joining Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on the panels tonight are American comedian Michelle Wolf, who in 2018 gave a speech criticising the Trump administration at the White House correspondents' dinner. She makes her HIGNFY debut. Also joining is The Times parliamentary sketch writer, Tom Peck.

As Donald Trump marked his first 100 days in office by agreeing a minerals deal with Ukraine, his approval ratings in the US were noted as the worst of any president at the 100 day stage for 80 years.

"How has Donald Trump been celebrating his first 100 days?" asked host Sue Perkins.

"By lying through his teeth and telling people how wonderful it is... and when the stock market was doing really well last year when Biden was president, he claimed it was to his own credit, because people knew he was going to become president, and now that it's tanking he's saying it's Biden's fault..." Paul Merton pointed out.

"It's particularly nice to say that it's the worst hundred days for any president ever, and he's also been president before..." laughed US comic Michelle Wolf.

"He's out-Trumped Trump!" replied Perkins. "He has very recently signed something... I'm talking the minerals deal."

"Oh yes, with Ukraine," replied Merton.

"And again, this is a deal which he told us a great deal about beforehand and then when it actually appeared it's not quite what he said he said..." Ian Hislop chimed in. "He said Ukraine are going to have to pay back all the billions we have given them to defend themselves, and actually that's not what's going to happen..."

"Yes the other day he boasted that he'd made over 200 deals with other countries in the world, but there are only 196 countries... so he's made the deal four times with one country... maybe it's the one with the penguins," joked Merton.

"Donald Trump was initially reluctant to sign a deal that only gave him access to Ukraine's titanium and lithium... in the end he only agreed when Zelensky threw in their entire deposits of made-up-ium and unobtain-ium," quipped Perkins.

The panel also discussed former Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney's election as the new Canadian prime minister this week, beating pro-Trump Conservative candidate Pierre Poilievre.

"Mark Carney, he used to be a banker... and I feel like this is the first time ever that a banker isn't the villain," joked Wolf.

"Well we've got some form with Mark Carney... because he was in charge of the Bank of England... and according to Liz Truss he was personally responsible for the economy collapsing...." Hislop added, laughing.

"Well I mean... she knows a lot... she was in office for a very long time..." Wolf agreed.

"That was indeed Donald Trump unwittingly having an influence on the Canadian general election," Perkins added.

"You can't use those words together... Donald Trump... 'unwittingly'... it's an oxymoron without the 'oxy'," interjected Hislop.

"The pro-trump Conservative candidate lost a 25 point lead and that handed victory of course to the Liberal Party leader Mark Carney," Perkins said.

"Well it is an object lesson that populists are not always popular... which is a great ray of sunshine in the world. It doesn't really go well with people on the whole when you tell them you're going to take over their country. That tends to make people who say 'no you're not' really popular..." Hislop pointed out.

"I do like that Trump is... and I I hope I'm not speaking out of turn... not the most attractive man," said Wolf.

"You're alone there sweetheart..." joked Perkins.

"And I think Mark Carney is a bit attractive and it's nice to have someone who's not bad to look at in politics again..." quipped Wolf.

"It's such a low bar isn't it...." replied Perkins, laughing. "This is the news that Canada, for so long the butt of jokes for being incredibly dull and boring, has now chosen to be run by... a bank manager."

Later in the episode, the panels discussed the significant power outages across Spain and Portugal this week.

"Spain and Portugal had a massive power cut..." started Merton.

"The whole of Spain just powering down for the afternoon... I've heard of it, but I've never seen the pictures..." joked Tom Peck.

"It is the news that a massive power outage caused chaos for millions of people in Spain and Portugal... transport badly affected... one high-speed train between Seville and Barcelona stopped in the middle of nowhere, and according to The Times, 'Passengers reported being stationary for two and a half hours with no Wi-Fi or air conditioning, plus the toilets stopped working'.... it's hard to imagine isn't it?" joked Perkins.

"Just two hours!" quipped Hislop.

"I personally love that Spain was like 'we don't really know what happened'... and then Portugal goes... 'it was Spain!'" laughed Wolf.