Afternoon Briefing Friday 12th September

0:00This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwCWC. Staying competitive means getting ahead, not just keeping up. So how do business leaders cut through the noise and focus on what really matters. PwC takes you further with tech, from optimising the systems that put your data to work, to scaling AI from proof of concept to competitive edge. PwC helps you meet tomorrow's tech demands so you can compete at a speed that rewrites the rules. Discover more at pwc.co.uk. Hello, this is your Times Afternoon Briefing for Friday the 12th of September with me, James Kitchen. The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage says the Prime Minister's decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US was a serious misjudgment.

0:46The Labour peer was sat yesterday after it emerged he sent messages of support to Jeffrey Epstein as he was facing prison for sex offences. The Conservatives say they'll try to force Sakhir Starmer to publish the vetting information at the time of Lord Mandelson's appointment. The Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Alex Burghardt, told Times Radio the PM's chief of staff may be the next to go. It's an open secret in Westminster that this appointment was Morgan McSweeney's idea. And it's certainly the case that there are a number of Labour figures now briefing against Morgan McSweeney.

1:21I wouldn't be surprised if the Prime Minister threw him under a bus in order to try and save his own position. I think ultimately this lands on the Prime Minister's desk. He is the person who made this appointment. A record number of peers are expected to take part in the two-day debate on the Assisted Dying Bill. The House of Lords is scrutinising the legislation which would apply across England and Wales. It would give adults diagnosed with a terminal illness and a life expectancy of less than six months the choice to end their lives. It's been sponsored by Lord Falconer, who's calling for a compassionate discussion.

1:54This bill before us has already given hope to those with personal experience of the injustice of the current law. They will be looking to us to play our proper role. If we can improve it further, we should, and we will have done our duty. The UK has targeted Russia with 100 new sanctions to reduce Vladimir Putin's sources of revenue and military supplies as the new Foreign Secretary of Air Cooper arrives in Kiev. Meanwhile, Prince Harry is expected to announce support for Ukraine's injured military personnel during a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital with the Invictus Games Foundation. The Duke of Sussex says he wants to do everything possible to help those who've been affected during the war.

2:36The Sunday Times' royal editor Roy Nikar says the foundation is the charitable cause closest to the prince's heart. He came up with the idea after travelling back himself from war on a plane with injured service personnel. And for him, I think he feels, you know, now that we are no longer actively deployed in war zones and we don't have troops coming back all the time injured, he feels I think quite often that it's receding from people's minds. So trips like this, where he is visiting an active war zone and that is happening, I think are very important for him to keep raising awareness around it.

3:11The British offshoot of a US conservative group set up by Charlie Kirk will hold a vigil in London later after he was shot dead on Wednesday. Turning Point UK says its activists will gather in Whitehall to remember the father of two who was murdered at a Utah university. The group's website says its aims include protecting our historical figures and exposing woke gender nonsense. And the Conservatives say the Prime Minister must reject the Chancellor's failed approach after the UK economy flatlined in July. Figures from the ONS showed there was zero growth in GDP against 0.4 % the month before.

3:48And remember, you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online. This episode of The Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation so you can accelerate from experiment to scale.

4:30Discover more at pwc.co.uk. Hi, I'm Katie Prescott from the Times Tech Podcast, which is currently sponsored by IBM. IBM has worked with Wimbledon for more than 30 years, helping the championships use data and AI to create more engaging digital experiences for fans. That includes tools like Match Chat, which can answer questions during play, and Likelihood to Win, which uses live match data to offer near real-time predictions. It's a practical example of AI in action, helping fans follow the tournament more closely while showing how organizations can turn data into useful insight. To learn more about how IBM helps create smarter business, visit ibm.com.