&nbsp;It’s no secret that political patronage can get you a place in the House of Lords. But even people who understand the system well - even peers themselves - were appalled when Boris Johnson decided to extend his patronage to Evgeny Lebedev.&nbsp; <hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

Londongrad season 1 bonus episode: The Johnson affair

Season 2 of Londongrad: Iran's Hit Squads.Award-winning investigative reporter Paul Caruana Galizia returns to report the story of the foiled assassination attempts on British soil of Iranian nationals.&nbsp;Since January 2022, there has been an attempted assassination or kidnap at least once a month –&nbsp;all ordered by the Iranian government.&nbsp;In this four-part series, Paul will delve into how these attempts unfolded, why they have become so prevalent and who is behind them. It's a story about Iran, about freedom of the press, but most of all, it’s about Britain – who the country chooses to protect and why.For the&nbsp;premium Tortoise listening experience, curated by our journalists,&nbsp;&nbsp;download the free Tortoise audio app.For early and ad-free&nbsp;access,&nbsp;subscribe&nbsp;to Tortoise+ on Apple&nbsp;Podcasts.If you’d like to further support slow journalism and help us build a different kind of newsroom, do consider donating to Tortoise at tortoisemedia.com/support-us. Your contributions allow us to investigate, campaign and explore, and to build a newsroom that is responsible and sustainable. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.