Mishal Husain talks her new chapter, pressing Nigel Farage on Russia and the recent BBC troubles

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

After 26 years at the BBC, Mishal Husain left in 2025 to join Bloomberg. It’s been the greatest challenge of her career. “I have had to reinvent myself and that’s scary because you wonder, ‘Am I going to make a success of it?’”

Husain presented the Today programme on Radio 4 for her final 11 years at the Beeb and was my favourite presenter on the show. While others tried to shout down interviewees, she researched meticulously, listened intensely, probed forensically and got results. Husain exposed inconsistencies, hypocrisies and plain old lies, fairly and without fanfare.

But now she’s swapped short-form interviews for a weekly 40-minute podcast called The Mishal Husain Show, which started in October. Husain insists they’re worlds apart. “I’m discovering that doing one deep, really thoughtful interview a week is completely different and harder than being in daily news and getting up at 3am.” Harder? “It really is. But I’m loving it.”

Off air, she still speaks with that limpid, head-girl voice, but her tone is a bit more sing-song; a bit more fun. What scared her most? “Starting from scratch. Starting from zero viewers and listeners.”

The change in job has also meant a change in lifestyle. Workwise, Husain and her husband Meekal Hashmi (who have three sons born 18 months apart – the youngest two are twins – at university) are now in sync. “My husband’s finding it quite curious that for the first time in our married life I have normal office hours and we both have to share the bathroom in the morning. Suddenly we have parallel routines, which we’ve never had.” Does he like that? “I think he’s probably… we’re probably, adjusting to it.”

Husain is a ridiculously youthful 52, and petite. With the familiar big bob, and a slight, strong frame, she’s got something of the superhero about her. Today, she’s racing up and down the extremely challenging stairs at Bloomberg, introducing me to the top floor with its magnificent view over St Paul’s and central London, down to the enticing (and free) pantry, then to the highly industrious newsroom.

In the first few weeks she’s interviewed a mix of world leaders, aspiring world leaders and global influencers, including Canada’s prime minister and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado, the recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She says patterns are beginning to emerge in the show, many of them reflecting the increasing schisms in the world.

When we meet, Husain has just interviewed newly retired MI6 chief Richard Moore and she’s still thinking about it. “He said that the world today has never been more contested in his 38 years of intelligence. When I left university in the 90s it was before 9/11, and it was a more settled world order. Economically, it was a better time, too. Making sense of that world is one of those things I want to do. Mark Carney was our launch guest and he talked about a rupture. I thought, you’re a G7 leader, and you’re telling us what we’re going through is not just a blip and trade is possibly never going to go back to how it was.” Her fears for a world in crisis are written all over her face.

When she interviewed Farage, she grilled him about his and Reform’s relationship with Russia (before the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, was jailed for 10 years for accepting pro-Russian bribes). Farage was so riled he responded, “Listen, love, you’re trying ever so hard.” She let it pass without a flicker. Was she tempted to say something? “No, because we would have stopped talking about Russia and we would have started talking about me and him, and I didn’t want that.”

If that had been pre-recorded for Today, would it have been included in the show? “Probably not. We might have had to cut the interview down to five minutes, and it’s likely it would have been left on the cutting-room floor.”

Now she’s left the Beeb she’s free to be more opinionated. But she says she’ll never be an open book. That’s just not her. However, when delivering this year’s prestigious Romanes Lecture she said she is less reluctant these days to talk about being a Muslim or her Anglo-Pakistani background. I ask why? “Because there’s a responsibility that comes with being in the public eye. We’re in a world where prejudice, discrimination and hatred is rising, so I do feel a sense of responsibility.

“About eight years ago, there was a young Muslim journalist at the BBC who said to me, ‘I admire that you don’t hide that you’re Muslim’, and I thought how sad that he’s even saying that. That is one of the moments that brought home the sense of responsibility.” She smiles. “And look at my name. How could I hide the fact I’m Muslim?”

We’re talking in the week that the BBC’s director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned following an edit of one of Donald Trump’s speeches on the Panorama programme. Was she surprised? “I think what they were dealing with became too intense. I understand why it would have come to that.”

Whether they should have had to is a different matter. The BBC has been accused of a left-wing bias, but Husain’s not buying that. “They [Davie and Turness] were dealing with a board that has individuals within it who are not impartial. I was always told as a BBC journalist you leave your opinions at the door. You do expect that from the board as well and I don’t think that happened.”

She says being director-general is a tough job and she can’t fathom who’d want it. “It’s a brave person whoever they are.” Has she been in touch with former colleagues to offer support? “Yes. Of course. I’d have to be heartless not to be thinking about what it’s like. I saw quite a few serious issues and scandals play out from the inside, but none of them felt existential in the way this one does. It makes me worried for the future.”

On a more positive note, she’s looking forward to Christmas. “I don’t know if this sounds weird coming from a Muslim, but I love the religious side of Christmas. I find Midnight Mass or any kind of carol service deeply moving. The story of the birth of Jesus is beautifully told in the Koran, and I find the Christmas story so moving.” Is she religious? “I would say faith is a part of my life.”

This Christmas should be more relaxing than previous years when she has often been working on Boxing Day. What will she be watching?

“We’ll pick a few films. I’m a member of Bafta so I always have quite a few films to watch over Christmas.” She stops. “Radio Times will hate that because they’ll be wanting me to watch something actually on TV.” She asks if she can have ans go. OK, I say. “I’ll be going through my Christmas issue of Radio Times to find out what to watch!” – and she dissolves into girlish giggles.

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