Alastair Campbell and Jon Sopel have reminded their fans that they’re no strangers to a bit of healthy competition, with the pair publicly sparring on social media after going up against one another for a podcasting award.
The Rest is Politics presenter Campbell and The News Agents host Sopel regularly tease one another on social media over their respective podcasts, with both often vying for the top spot on lists of most-streamed news podcasts in the UK.
So when The News Agents beat The Rest is Politics to the prize for Political Podcast of the Year at the Society of Editors’s News Podcast Awards, Sopel couldn’t help rubbing it in.
“Delighted to have won politics podcast of the year from the Society of Editors,” Sopel wrote on X on Thursday (18 June). “And congrats to The Rest is Politics with @campbellclaret for the runner’s up spot. Highly commended – much deserved!”
Oh damn … did we forget to turn up or buy a table!? https://t.co/EuLX8gd8aT
— ALASTAIR CAMPBELL (@campbellclaret) June 18, 2026
Campbell wasted no time in cheekily replying to Sopel, tweeting: “Oh damn ... did we forget to turn up or buy a table!?” While Sopel teased back: “Look, there’s absolutely no shame in coming second – even though when you entered you were obviously hoping to win….”
Their feud appears to just be a bit of fun however, with Campbell appearing as a guest on The News Agents back in 2023. Meanwhile, a year later, Campbell accidentally interrupted one of Sopel’s podcast recordings by calling to invite him to a football match.
“I’m trying to record a f***ing podcast,” Sopel told him down the phone, smiling. “I don’t bloody need Alastair Campbell ringing me now.”
The pair regularly take amusing swipes at one another on X, with Sopel previously teasing Campbell about having had former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on his podcast before he went on The Rest is Politics. “Wow. That sounds interesting @campbellclaret – Am sure I heard him though on another podcast a couple of weeks ago. What’s it called….aah that’s it: @TheNewsAgents,” he wrote in 2023.
Campbell hit back: “Oh no @jonsopel you shouldn’t go there … as he left he turned to his publicist and said ‘that was the best interview of the whole tour!’ Ps he had already done you … x.”
The Rest is Politics, hosted by Campbell and ex Tory politician Rory Stewart, has become one of the UK’s leading political podcasts since launching in 2022. YouTube EMEA vice president, Pedro Pina, even commented last year that its low production values on the live version are of no concern to viewers.
“When you look at their podcast, their live transmission, which was on YouTube (covering) the US election… the production values was one of those (it) feels like a high school put together (with) a couple of tables, and yet the viewership was tremendous,” he said in February last year.
The News Agents is similarly successful, riding high in the podcast charts and having launched at a similar time with hosts Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall. The trio previously hosted Newscast for the BBC, but left in February 2022 to join Global, where they created The News Agents. Sopel also writes analysis and commentary for The Independent about American politics.
