Laura Kuenssberg's BBC programme features Kemi Badenoch and Jacob Rees-Mogg

journalismJul 19, 2026361,030

Laura Kuenssberg's BBC programme aired a segment that included Conservative MPs Kemi Badenoch and Jacob Rees-Mogg debating Andy Burnham and the future direction of the Tory party. Viewers on social media criticised the choice of guests and the programme's balance, calling out appearances by Jacob Rees-Mogg and panellists such as Kate Garraway and Lucy Powell. Some posts specifically raised reporting in The Telegraph that the Trump administration plans to grant $12 million to groups founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young, asking whether Kuenssberg would challenge Rees-Mogg on that funding. Other callers and posts criticised the interview style and the perceived lack of substantive policy detail in exchanges about Burnham and party mandates. The episode prompted calls from listeners for tougher scrutiny of guests' funding and clearer, more policy-focused questioning on public‑facing political programmes.

Peter Jukes

@peterjukes.bsky.social

Laura Kuenssberg, Andrew Neil, and the BBC apparatus which gave Cambridge Analytica a chance to undermine @carolecadwalla.bsky.social’s investigation before it was published, called law breaking ‘rule breaking’, demeaned her as a mad cat lady, and fluffed Farage, deserve all the ignominy of history

5892h ago

Stuart Hemingway31

Robbie Gibb and Samir Shah remain despite the obvious lack of impartiality not to mention all the links back to Trump involving Cambridge Analytica…

Elkeblom10

I've never regarded Kuensberg a journalist, she's more of a presenter (a biased one). The BBC seems to merely tolerate proper journalism, the time it fostered it has long since gone. But Ms Cadwalladr is the real deal, widely respected because of it and the envy of presenters everywhere.

bettertimes69.bsky.social3

Absolutely complicit in where we find ourselves today.

Steve B3

I am so glad you have stated this, Peter. It has been eating away inside me—and others, I imagine—for a long time. Always knew particularly what BBC political bastion impartial Andrew unbiased Neil really was. He didn't hide it so well, did he? Thank you for saying it.

kathykadane.bsky.social2

Is there a good book on the CAnalytica phenom you can recommend? Phenom, in its various tendrils was definitely book length

meducks.bsky.social1

They do and Lisa Nandy is the Person With Power to make this happen

Quoting this

Gerri McGerriface12

And yet Kuenssberg is still the darling of the BBC. No wonder people are starting to detest it.

Marwood

@andmarwood.bsky.social

Does Lucy Powell or anyone in the upper circles of the Labour Party actually know what 'authentic Labour' is...? 🤔

Post from Lucy Powell MP, Deputy Labour Leader:

"We won’t out Reform Reform, or out Green the Greens. We’ll be authentically Labour - taking the pressure of people’s lives and rewiring the country so it works for the many not the few.

Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg this morning on the BBC."

656h ago

aiteall.bsky.social5

About as authentic as Tory Bliar!

Dinsdale Piranha5

Part of the problem is that the UK basically does not do manufacturing any more, we are too expensive. There is plenty of knowledge work, but unskilled and semi-skilled jobs are in short supply and paid atrociously. UBI is one solution. Backed by higher taxes on the rich.

Me & Taylor4

Words borrowed from the leader they ousted for being a leftie. Empty words in her mouth.

Ian H3

"authentic Labour" only exists for a world which no longer exists.

Harry Krishna2

Yes but they don't care and are just out to feather their own nests, they only care about money and power.

Neurodivergent072

She meant Neoliberal... That is all they now know. All the 'authentic Labour' members were expelled or left of their own accord seeing policies set by Lucy Powell.

Louise Paterson

@louisep.bsky.social

Kemi Badenoch repeatedly calls Andy Burnham a people pleaser. This from a black woman courting votes from misogynist racists. #bbclaurak

5112h ago

Zilladevil2

Kemi probably spends her free time racking her brain trying to work out why racist misogynists hate her so much, because while the flak she gets from that contingent is awful and should be called out, she is an idiot

stephthethird.bsky.social1

Kemi's a professional contrarian. If she weren't so miserable and annoying, I'd be impressed by her commitment to the bit.

Ed Wilson

@eddwilson.bsky.social

Email just sent to kuenssberg @ bbc . co . uk Pretty pointless, because my carer rearranged his call, and I wasn't watching during the programme, but I've got to keep going. #BBCLauraK

Text of an email

Kemi Badenoch tells anotjher lie

Kemi Badenoch told us this morning that the UK's carbon emissions have risen due to the net zero law which Theresa May brought in (by amending Ed Miliband's law). This is not true, and you should have said so, because anybody who keeps an eye on these things knows it's not true.

She referred to arguments put forward by fossil fuel companies, who were arguing dubiously about the future, but she used the past tense - "carbon emissions have risen", which is not true.

Among many other references you could have used the UK Climate Change Committee's "Progress in reducing emissions – 2025 report to Parliament" https://www.theccc.org.uk/publication/progress-in-reducing-emissions-2025-report-to-parliament/

As it is, you have let Kemi Badenoch spread a lie with no fact check or even question.

Ed Wilson

405h ago

David4

Bad Enoch is now in the if its lips are moving it is lying category

DavidxRose2

It's happening all over the main stream media, you have to ask yourself - Why? Who's paying them to stay schtum?

Frankie Shrapnel2

Lazy journalism is the kindest thing I can say.

Womble19581

How shocked we all are(n’t) that she lied and that it wasn’t challenged - have fun reading their copy & paste AI generated reply….. 🙄

Gerry Hassan

@gerryhassan.bsky.social

The level of political discourse gets lower on #BBCLauraK. "Everybody in the country wants Andy Burnham to succeed" says broadcaster Kate Garraway sitting next to Jacob Rees-Mogg. Mogg dares to call Burnham "condescending" for talking about "ordinary people."

2612h ago

garymills.bsky.social5

Extraordinary. The same Jacob Rees-Mogg who told grieving Grenfell families it was “common sense” to have just walked out of a burning tower, against fire brigade advice, is now lecturing Lucy Powell about being condescending.

callymeg.bsky.social3

The Jacob Rees-Mogg who's taking money from the Trump regime and selling out his country?

Steve (he/him)2

Condescending? Accuse your enemies of the very things you do.

Ian1

His nanny brought him up well #bbclaurak

Simon James1

Wearing his MCC tie today, too.

KD50s1

Mogg the great UK Democrat who is taking money from Trump backers to the tune of millions. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

David

@zero-4.bsky.social

The man complaining about devolution of power to the regions as “vacuous” is the same bloke who thought one of the main benefits of the Brexit he pushed, would be the return to imperial measurements #bbclaurak

3013h ago

Christopher 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇮🇪

@christophert42.bsky.social

Did the mail demand an election after John Major replaced Margaret Thatcher, when Theresa May replaced David Cameron, when Boris Johnson replaced Theresa May, when Liz Truss replaced Boris Johnson and when Rishi Sunak replaced Liz Truss? No thought not, the sanctimonious hypocrites #bbclaurak

1513h ago

Griffin

@gryffgroff.bsky.social

Ugh, of course! Between Laura Kuenssberg and Chris Mason, the BBC is about as balanced as one legged table. £700K BBC savings per year to be had - just for them two.

23Yesterday

Sir Garfield De Umfreville, Baronet Bywell

@gazzalw63.bsky.social

Mad woman who hasn’t a clue what the country’s priorities are claims Burnham doesn’t have a clue what the country’s priorities are. Fixing all the shit her government left behind would be a start. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

16Yesterday

Andrew Rait

@andrewrait.bsky.social

"Laura Kuenssberg" portrayed absolutely perfectly here. Listen at 01:57 for an on-the-money interview of our current political media landscape (the entire show is worth a listen too) 🤣 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

15Yesterday

Lucy Powell MP

@lucympowell.bsky.social

We won’t out Reform Reform, or out Green the Greens. We’ll be authentically Labour - taking the pressure of people’s lives and rewiring the country so it works for the many not the few. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg this morning on the BBC.

1610h ago

John Addy 🌹

@johnaddy.bsky.social

As well as building council houses Andy Burnham should stop the sale of them. #BBCLauraK

1413h ago

Simon James

@jim1132.bsky.social

Everyone too polite to ask Rees-Mogg why he's on the take from the US government? #bbclaurak

812h ago

cancelled-by-elon.bsky.social

@cancelled-by-elon.bsky.social

What does it say when you have to learn about a large protest in London from a foreign media outlet? Not a single mention anywhere from the BBC or the corporate print and broadcast media. Democracy dies in darkness. #BBCLaurak

613h ago

milominder

@milominder.bsky.social

With the RW media's cloak of death finally starting to wrap Farage up, it does feel a bit like Al Capone getting done for tax evasion rather than the Clacton grifter being nailed for inciting racial hatred, persecution of immigrants and unhinged climate change denial. #bbclaurak

1012h ago

1 source

theguardian.comTrump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young

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