Have I Got News For You

Alexander Armstrong fronts this episode, a record 42nd appearance as guest host. Steph McGovern and Phil Wang complete the panels.

Guest hosting for a record 42nd time, Alexander Armstrong takes the reins. Joining him are Phil Wang, who makes his fourteenth appearance, and journalist and TV presenter Steph McGovern, making her fifteenth appearance on the show.

In the first new episode of HIGNFY since Donald Trump moved back into the White House, this week has seen Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves announce her spring statement and further cuts to welfare benefits, Ed Davey launching the Liberal Democrats' local elections campaign, and Meghan Markle releasing her own 'fruit spread'.

But it was the returning US President who has dominated the news headlines this week, as he unveiled new tariffs on imports to the US, forming a central part of his government's new trade policy. The panel immediately tried to make sense of the policy announcement.

"Trade tariffs... he's basically slapped all the countries he does trade with, with these tariffs, that are just going to put up prices for everyone," pointed out Steph McGovern.

"And what has this day been called?" asked host Alexander Armstrong.

"Liberation Day!" replied McGovern.

"Yeah, we're free to lose money..." Ian Hislop quipped.

"Shall we have a quick look at his specials board?" Armstrong asks, displaying the US government's graphic which outlines the percentage of tariff each country will be imposed with.

"I was just thrilled Malaysia was on it... we're never on anything! I just know at home right now... yes it's a 30% tariff, but people will be going 'Malaysia!! Look!'" joked Phil Wang. "There's no rhyme or reason to it at all... he's placed a 10% tariff on these islands near Antarctica where the only inhabitants are penguins... the penguins are there like 'what did we do?'... 'I didn't like Happy Feet... I thought it was a terrible movie'," Wang joked, impersonating Trump.

"It's exactly like the Eurovision table, except Britain is at the bottom and that's... good!" jested Hislop.

"Yes, this is the dull economic bit of World War Three. Except this time, for once, the Americans are in it from the beginning..." Armstrong concluded. "Trump's tariffs even extend to the Heard and McDonald Islands which are completely uninhabited with no buildings or human habitation whatsoever. Nonetheless, its economy is predicted to outgrow Britain's by 2026."

Later in the episode, the panel's attention turned to domestic political news, as they assessed Rachel Reeves' spring statement, and how the American tariff announcement will impact the UK government budget.

"This is the UK's economy and Rachel Reeves' spring statement. The OBR has now downgraded our forecast of growth to 1%... astroturf grows faster than that!" laughed Wang.

"What was she hoping to create?" Armstrong asked.

"Growth." Hislop replied.

"And headroom... £10 billion worth of headroom..." Armstrong pointed out sceptically.

"Yeah its fiscal headroom... who's Max's brother" Hislop joked. "It's a ludicrous idea, isn't it... that she's got £10 billion to play with, and then immediately after the tariffs are announced, she hasn't."

"Yes, in a move the chancellor didn't see coming, Donald Trump has 'squeezed her buffer'. What's Rachel Reeves encouraging people to do to get Britain building houses again? She said the country needs more 'brickies, sparkies and chippies'... Ooh yes please, mine's a large haddock," quipped Armstrong.

"How are chippies building houses?" a confused Wang asked quizzically, assuming he was talking about chip shops.

"Carpenters," Paul Merton clarified.

"Oh, is that what it is," Wang laughed. "I'm learning so much, thank you so much for having me!"

The panel also found the time to look at a lighter recent news story, as a woman in Kendal found a double-pronged banana in her grocery shopping.

"What might have been surprising about Kate Wright from Kendal's banana?" Armstrong asked the panel.

"It looked like Donald Trump? It looked like the Pope?" Merton joked.

"You opened it and inside was the Eiffel Tower?" Hislop added.

"Or the American Declaration of Independence?" Merton quipped.

"Kate Wright from Kendal was tucking into her breakfast one day when she found a rare double banana... in which a single banana grows with two distinct 'fingers'," revealed Armstrong, continuing, "recounting her experience to the BBC, Kate ended with the thrilling denouement ,'It tasted like a completely normal banana, there was nothing unusual about it at all...'"

"Was this Panorama... or?" Hislop enquired.

"Or Bananarama..." Merton laughed.