Have I Got News For You

Joining host David Tennant, Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on the panels are comedian Miles Jupp, making his 18th appearance on the programme, and Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman, returning to the programme after her last previous appearance in 2015.

Have I Got News For You is no stranger to a busy news week, but for this week's edition, the panels had a remarkable number of massive global and domestic news stories to get stuck in to.

Just before Thursday night's recording, the announcement was made at the Vatican of the election of a new, American Pope, which wrestled for top billing with Keir Starmer's UK/US trade deal announcement, the fallout from last week's local elections, with Nigel Farage's Reform party making significant gains, and the 80th anniversary of VE Day.

But the panels started this week with the surprise announcement that the UK and the US have reached a trade deal, making the UK the first country to agree a deal with the US since Trump imposed sweeping tariffs in April.

"We've got a trade deal and there is a new Pope!" Merton said. "I was extremely surprised that it wasn't me, as I'd been led to believe that it would be me. I had the costume fitting and everything..." he joked, referencing a running joke on the show over the past couple of weeks.

"Yes, indeed, it's the news that the UK / US trade deal was rather gazumped by the election of a new Pope" Tennant confirmed.

"Starmer didn't seem to be aware that it was happening until about five minutes before," Newman said, satirically.

"Yeah... but he doesn't know he lost the election," Hislop joked.

"Trump has described this deal as 'full and comprehensive'.... and includes 'third party, fire and theft', but only if you've got locks on all of your downstairs windows...." Tennant quipped. "What's the deal going to achieve?"

"It will change everything! Has the price of DVDs gone up? Will this effect book tokens?" Jupp joked.

"There's still a 10% baseline tariff though..." Newman clarified.

"On everything..." Hislop added.

"The 25% tariff on steel has gone..." Tennant said.

"Yes, but then it was only imposed fairly recently... so we've got a better deal than we had last time Trump said anything," Hislop pointed out.

"Keir Starmer said the way to look at it is that 'are things better today than they were yesterday?' And he said they are," Newman said.

"Yeah, but not better than they were a couple of weeks ago..." Hislop interjected.

"What I want to know is is it going to be better tomorrow? Cause there could be nuclear war tomorrow..." Newman said.

"Oh, you're fun..." Hislop quipped.

"This is the UK's trade deal with the US. Hopes had been growing for weeks of a possible trade deal between the US and the UK," Tennant concluded. "Although on Wednesday, Donald Trump tweeted that it was with 'a highly respected country'... which threw us all off the scent a little bit..." he joked.

Later in the episode, the panel turned their attention to the UK's by-election results from last week, which saw big council seat losses for the Conservatives and Labour, and big gains for the Lib Dems and Reform, with Nigel Farage claiming that 'it's the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party'.

"This is the elections... the local elections, the mayoral elections, the by-election. It was an earthquake, according to Reform... life will never be the same again," Hislop remarked.

"Well it's the end of the Conservatives they said," Newman added.

"Yeah. It's the end of the two-party system, it's the start of a new era... it's 'Nige-ageddon'!" Hislop joked, coining this new term.

"When was the moment that Nigel Farage realised he was on to something big?" Tennant asked the panel.

"Well he was on his way to Durham, wasn't he, which is pretty big, winning in Durham which is Labour heartland." Newman answered.

"Well, apparently he noticed that as he walked down Ormskirk high street, 'there were far fewer abusive shouts than there used to be...'" Tennant laughed. "Come on Ormskirk pull your finger out!"

"And what was Keir Starmer's reaction to the results?" Tennant asked.

"He was surprisingly unbothered, given that they did nearly as bad, not quite as bad as the Conservatives" Hislop answered.

"He said, 'I get it. We need to go further'" Tennant explained.

"Whereas a lot of his MPs and members of the cabinet were saying 'why don't you scrap the cut on winter fuel allowance? And he said 'because that would be a good idea'... no, he didn't say that..." Hislop joked.

"This is the local election results which have, according to experts, brought Nigel Farage one step closer to number 10," Tennant concluded, before referencing the successful gains for the Lib Dems. "After a good night for his party, Ed Davey announced that the Lib Dems were on their 'best-ever winning streak'. Ohh, now Ed Davey's got the word 'streak' in his head," Tennant laughed, imagining Davey's next stunt...

"A big swing to the Lib Dems!" Hislop hilariously added.