Jess Phillips on the battle of her political life

The News Agents

Friday, 19 December 2025 - 50 minutes

As parliament wound down to a close, Jess Phillips ended 2025 with one of the government's boldest announcements to date. In the Commons, she declared a "national emergency: over the prevalence of violence against women and girls, and unveiled the government's strategy to halve it.

It bookended a dramatic year for the Home Office minister, who in January found herself in the crosshairs of Elon Musk, labelling her a "rape genocide apologist" and called for her imprisonment. She's also faced calls to resign over the government's handling of the grooming gangs inquiry. And after she spoke in parliament, Kemi Badenoch denounced her plans - saying that teaching boys about misogyny should not be a priority because migrant men pose a more serious threat to women in the UK.

She came into the News Agents studio to discuss all of that with Lewis.

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