Broadcast timeline
New: Farage
Tuesday 13 October 2026 · 19:00 BST · 1h · 5 stories · 15 annotated moments · 39 of 60 min on news stories (66%)
Broadcast overview
An AI-generated overview based on this broadcast's transcript.
Sir Ken McCallum, the MI5 Director General, warned that artificial intelligence is supercharging terror threats in Britain and could allow terrorists, hostile states or other adversaries to exploit drones and create new bioweapons. He said terrorists were already using AI to improve attack plans, including drone technology, and cited rising extreme right-wing terrorism and a fourfold increase over a decade in hostile-state cases, primarily from Russia, Iran and China. The broadcast also reported that Iran-linked MI5 operations led to more than 50 arrests in the UK in the last 12 months. The Prime Minister said the incident at RAF Fairford was highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and promised sanctions and a crackdown on criminal networks. In the studio discussion, Nigel Farage challenged the government over Iranian operatives crossing the English Channel in small boats, while independent terrorism reviewer Jonathan Hall put the 50 arrests in context of about 250 terrorism-related arrests a year, described arrivals from countries such as Iran as a risk factor, and said the situation facing the Jewish community was a national security emergency. The panel also discussed counter-terrorism policing, AI and disinformation, social cohesion and hostile-state bots, and lessons from Southport, with Hall giving credit to the government for openness after Iran-linked arrests.
The programme then examined a visa sponsor scandal in which 208 companies fined for illegal working practices, with fines totaling nearly £10 million, were still listed on the visa sponsor register. Investigative journalist David Shipley said companies caught breaking immigration rules had paid fines but were allowed to keep sponsoring visas, and that some firms appeared to have been set up to sell visas or undercut national insurance and minimum wages. He suggested AI could help identify anomalous sponsorship data, but said existing Home Office rules allowing sponsors to be removed after fines were not always being implemented. The broadcast reported that 3,299 sponsor licences were revoked last year, compared with 347 in 2023, and that since the election there were 6,662 revocations up to April, compared with 6,272 between 2012 and 2024. A Home Office spokesman said illegal working was being cracked down on at record levels and that sponsor licences would be removed where necessary, citing a 950% increase in revocations. The panel also discussed Whitehall performance and public-sector productivity.
The broadcast moved to energy and the Falkland Islands, reporting that Ed Miliband had approved oil drilling there despite objections from Argentine President Milei, within a 200-mile exclusive economic zone and involving one Israeli and one British company. Independent energy consultant Catherine Porter said the decision was inconsistent with the government's reluctance to approve North Sea projects such as Jackdaw and Rosebank, arguing all should be approved, the North Sea drilling ban lifted and tax and regulatory conditions eased, including around tiebacks. She also said Norwegian discoveries near UK waters could extend into the UK continental shelf but could not be confirmed because of the drilling ban. On diesel, the programme noted a Trump-Putin deal to freeze some diesel and reported prices above £2 a litre and over £100 to fill a family four-by-four, discussing refinery capacity, shipping fuel standards, the US Jones Act and EU plans to release diesel reserves. Porter said gas from Jackdaw could displace price-setting LNG for two to four months a year and that gas prices are not global. The final segment covered Andy Burnham's change of position on the EU: having said in May that he was not proposing the UK rejoin and did not want to rerun the arguments, he told the Commons yesterday that he was open to a longer-term discussion about the UK's relationship with the EU, saying the status quo was not good enough for growth, immigration, values and security.
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- 4:18 Story begins MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
- 4:28
Contested quote MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
We had a big speech today from the MI5 director general, Sir Ken McCallum, and he made it clear there are all sorts of threats that this country faces, including possibly threats from AI in the future. But what I found particularly interesting was the information that he told me, that 50, yes, there have been 50 Iran-linked arrests
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 4:28-4:31
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Claim MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
There were 50 Iran-linked arrests in the last year.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 4:37-4:44
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Charged quote MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
Over the last 12 months, our Iran-linked operations have led to more than 50 arrests in the UK. These sickening acts, including against ambulances, synagogues, and businesses, were claimed by a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right. Behind this front sat members of the IRGC.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 6:00-6:07
- 6:52
Charged quote MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
Over the course of the last few weeks, there have been Iranian operatives that have been crossing the English Channel in small boats. To put that in simple terms, we are importing terrorists into our country from across the English Channel, and I challenge the British government. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I'm wrong,
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 6:52-6:56
- 7:19
Charged quote MI5 chief warns AI and bioweapons threaten security
it almost makes sense that they would do that. Well, I feel many of my fears have been justified, albeit I did have some intelligence from a good source on this subject. I believe that this is a national security crisis. I believe we cannot allow young men in boats crossing the Channel to roam our streets freely. Do you agree with me?
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 7:19-7:22
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Contested quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have. Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain. He's stuck with a completely outdated vision of what the European Union actually is. Would it help us deal with immigration? Would it help? We so-called double an agreement that we had before
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 48:44-48:49
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Contested quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
We so-called double an agreement that we had before meant some years we had to actually receive more people from Europe than we sent back. We have total control over immigration. We can do what we like. The fact Tory and Labour governments have chosen not to use those powers is down to us, not because we've left the European Union.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 48:58-49:03
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Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
But it hasn't damaged business overall. In fact, unbelievably, our exports of services to the European Union are up over 25% since we left. So the arguments annoy me. They're wrong, they're out of date. Quite why the Prime Minister wants to sit down with Marine Le Pen and the AfD, I do not know. But look, Jo Phillips, the Lib Dems,
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 49:34-49:38
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Contested quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
Quite why the Prime Minister wants to sit down with Marine Le Pen and the AfD, I do not know. But look, Jo Phillips, the Lib Dems, very pro European Union party, but this debate that he started won't unify the country, will it? Well, I don't know, Nigel. I mean, I think if we had, I mean, he's absolutely, I'm sure he's not daft enough
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 49:49-49:53
- 50:32
Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
but what I would say is, if there had been anybody in government who'd got half a clue about what they were going to do when the referendum result came through, we might not have made such a balls up of it, frankly. David Cameron is an absolute class coward because he called a referendum, he didn't follow any advice,
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 50:32-50:35
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Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
if there had been anybody in government who'd got half a clue about what they were going to do when the referendum result came through, we might not have made such a balls up of it, frankly. David Cameron is an absolute class coward because he called a referendum, he didn't follow any advice, and it was so close, he could have said,
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 50:35-50:39
- 52:54
Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
We've got a relationship with the Commonwealth. Yes, but we were talking earlier... And with the United States, who are our biggest investor. Well, yeah, and with a very untrustworthy bonkers president. No, that's irrelevant, private investors. It's about private investors. It could be a new one in two years.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 52:54-52:57
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Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
It could be a new one in two years. But let me make the point about migration, and you've raised it as well, you know. The Boris wave of immigration came as a direct result of us leaving the United States. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is not true. We could have had zero immigration.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 53:05-53:10
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Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is not true. We could have had zero immigration. We were back in control. We could have had zero, just that these muppets chose to let in millions. God, don't ask me why. Because they were filling the gaps of the jobs vacancies. If only they were. If only they were.
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 53:18-53:20
- 53:38
Charged quote Andy Burnham comments on Brexit status quo and EU ties
came on work permits. Sad, sad, sad. Different debate. Thank you very much indeed. Oh, dear. These re-joiners, they just never give up. They just never give up. It does amuse me, Jacob, that, you know, if somehow Burnham thinks this debate will unite the country, it's going to drive people potty, isn't it?
GB News, New: Farage, 13 October 2026, 53:38-53:42
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Source: GB News, "New: Farage", Tuesday 13 October 2026. Transcript excerpts and stills are shown only to support the analysis annotated alongside them. Search-result excerpts are distinct from the editorial annotations — see our copyright basis. The full broadcast is not reproduced.