Afternoon briefing Monday 20th April

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. This is the Times Radio afternoon briefing on Monday the 20th of April. Kemi Badenoch has accused Sakir Starmer of throwing everyone under the bus over Peter Mandelson as the Prime Minister addresses Parliament.

0:45It's the first time the Prime Minister has faced MPs since it was revealed Lord Mandelson failed betting checks. A Cabinet Minister has told Times Radio it's inexplicable a top civil servant didn't tell Sakir Starmer about that recommendation. Douglas Alexander insists the rule should not have stopped Sir Ollie Robbins from passing on that information. That doesn't absolve Ollie Robbins of the responsibility of sharing information about the decision that has been reached. If you look at the Constitution Reform and Governance Act of 2010, it does not prevent civil servants from informing ministers.

1:22But the Times' chief political commentator Patrick Maguire says it would have been politically impossible for Ollie Robbins to raise concerns. There was no question, right, there was no realistic question that Ollie Robbins, like the guy before him, Philip Barham, could turn around and say, listen, we can't let this happen. They did not want faceless officials telling the elected government, please don't do this. They were sick of that. And it's a crisis of their own making. Ollie Robbins is due to speak to MPs tomorrow. Iran says there are no plans for more talks with the US and has accused Washington of unrealistic expectations.

1:57The US Navy has seized an Iranian-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, accusing it of trying to break its blockade. Sunday Times defence columnist Mark Urban says the regime in Tehran is split on what it should do next. There are clearly voices in Iran that have said over the past 24 hours, right, that's it now, we're not coming back, there will be no talks. And yet an American delegation is being readied, presumably on the basis of some kind of reassurance from Pakistan that it's doing the mediating. that there'll be someone there for them to talk to. Two teenagers, a 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, have been arrested over an arson attack at a synagogue in north-west London.

2:36The Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow was attacked at around midnight on Saturday night. Nigel Farage is promising to deport hundreds of thousands of people who've been granted asylum over the last five years. Reform UK says it will assess whether those who've successfully applied for asylum entered the UK illegally, overstayed their visas, or whether their country of origin is now safe. The party estimates that 400 ,000 people will be reviewed. Government statistics show around 190 ,000 people have been granted asylum before appeal since 2021. The company behind the betting firms William Hill and 888 says it's in talks to be taken over by a Greek company.

3:14Bally's Intralots deal is valued at around£225 million. And the zoologist Desmond Morris, who wrote The Naked Ape, has died at the age of 98. He also presented the TV show Zoo Time in the 1950s and 1960s. Don't forget you can subscribe to the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify or you can listen live to Times Radio online.

3:44This 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. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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