Have I Got News For You

BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Naga Munchetty hosts for the first time. Joining Paul and Ian will be Times Radio host and former leader of the Scottish Conservative Party Ruth Davidson, and comedian Hugh Dennis.

It has been an interesting week of news, with relative minnows Luton Town being promoted to the Premier League, Gary Neville discovering the concept of a holiday, and King Charles turning down the temperature of Buckingham Palace's swimming pool.

But attention first turned to the developments with the government's COVID inquiry this week, being run by Baroness Hallett. It emerged that the government had failed to hand 16 months' worth of former PM Boris Johnson's WhatsApp messages to the inquiry as evidence, with Johnson today saying he will give the messages to the inquiry directly instead. Baroness Ruth Davidson said she felt sorry for Rishi Sunak, who she feels has had to clean up too many news stories about Johnson.

"Bizarrely, the government is refusing to comply with a committee that it set up itself," Paul Merton said.

"Yes, it thought it should have an inquiry into COVID, appointed Baroness Hallett, she asked to see all the evidence, and they said 'no'," replied Ian Hislop. "The former Prime Minister is only handing over his WhatsApp messages from 2021, from when he changed phones. So a lot of the messages we're not going to see, and the original phone he had, he was on a boat with Rebekah Vardy," Hislop joked.

"I feel quite sorry for Rishi, because he's in Moldova with Zelensky and the European leaders, trying to do big boy politics. And once again he's clearing up and being asked about Boris Johnson, he's not getting to do the Prime Minister thing at all," said Baroness Ruth Davidson.

"And you feel sorry for him?" queried Hislop.

"Well I do because he's like this earnest and industrious little chinchilla that works really, really hard, and then there's this big looming gorilla behind him that just takes up all of the space and all of the light. And he can't get on his wheel!" Davidson joked.

"This is the inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic. Rishi Sunak's record as chancellor during COVID is now under scrutiny. According to an ally of Boris Johnson, 'the WhatsApps the government really doesn't want disclosed are Sunak's.' Hence his new initiative, 'Delete Out to Help Out'" Munchetty quipped, continuing, "After the COVID inquiry demanded access to ministers' WhatsApp messages, a government spokesman insisted most of the content of the phones was entirely ordinary - just misogynistic banter, workplace bullying and 'tractor porn', of course..."

Later in the episode, the panel discussed the news this week that four MPs were found to have claimed hundreds of pounds of driving fines on expenses - despite it being against the rules.

"To further endear themselves to the electorate, a number of MPs have been found to have done what?" asked Munchetty.

"They have tried to claim speeding fines and parking tickets on expenses. These people presumably went for the points and fines because they didn't want to do speed awareness courses. In the speeding awareness course I did, literally no one recognised me at all. Mainly because I was disguised as Suella Braverman," joked Hugh Dennis.

"I had to go on a speed awareness course, and I was recognised," Munchetty replied.

"How fast were you going?" Dennis asked.

"I can't remember..." Munchetty replied sheepishly.

"It's all a bit of a blur!" quipped Merton.