Daily Briefing Saturday 18th 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. Hello, this is your Times Radio Daily Briefing for Saturday the 18th of April with me, James Kitchen. The former head of the Foreign Office is preparing to mount a staunch defence of his decision to approve Peter Mandelson's appointment to Washington.

0:46The Prime Minister sacked Sir Ollie Robbins on Thursday night before accusing him of an unforgivable failure to warn No. 10 the peer had failed security vetting. But friends of the top civil servant claim Sir Keir Starmer scapegoated the Foreign Office chief after having stacked the deck in favour of Lord Mandelson's selection. The Times columnist Fraser Nelson described the PM as a spectator in his own governmental machine. He's staggeringly incurious and his position is always one of surprise, even shock, at what his own government is up to. And this is what we've had with the Mandelson saga.

1:19Oh, I thought he'd passed his vetting. Nobody told me he didn't. I'm terribly shocked to find this out. But in Whitehall, information will filter up according to the perceived demand. So when Mandelson failed his vetting, I reckon the signal went down that the Prime Minister doesn't want to know this. He would rather this was just handled so he can't be held liable for it later on. A convoy of oil and gas tankers appear to be transiting the Strait of Hormuz, marking the first major movement of ships in seven weeks. It comes after the US and Iran announced vessels would be free to navigate the crucial shipping channel, sparking hopes the two countries were moving closer to a deal.

1:58Tehran later clarified tankers should only use designated safe lanes under the regime's supervision. Simon Kelly is a maritime strategist and former Royal Navy commander. You've seen the more confident operators, or perhaps those who have a slightly lower appetite or higher appetite for risk, make their way through even at the height of the conflict. There are people here who have been stuck in the Gulf for a long time, and what they won't do is they're not going to go through if they think there's a mine risk. So this is why the Iranians have still got control over that route at the moment, because there's still this hazard area stuck straight in the middle of the sort of standard transit route.

2:34Meanwhile, Donald Trump's again criticised NATO, calling the alliance useless for refusing to help the US in the conflict. Sir John Major is piling pressure on the government to raise defence spending. In a letter to the Times, the former Prime Minister warns the UK must be sufficiently equipped and better prepared for war. Earlier this week, the former Labour Defence Secretary, Lord Robertson, accused ministers of corrosive complacency on defence. Downing Street rejected his claim and national security was in peril. The Labour MP and vice chair of the parliamentary group on rearmament, Tim Rocker, also signed the letter.

3:10Speaking to Times Radio, he called on the government to publish its delayed defence investment plan. We've got a commitment now to NATO to increase to 5 % by 2035. So I think realistically, 2.5, 2.6 isn't going to cut it. We're going to have to move to 3 % within this parliament, which will be difficult, of course it will be. But now Germany is spending more than us, Holland is spending more than us, Sweden is spending more than us. So we need to play our part in the collective defence of the continent and a wider NATO. Staff working for the British Medical Association are taking their fifth day of strike action in a dispute over pay.

3:44The GMB union says around 450 members are walking out in England because a 2.7 % deal is below what's been offered to resident doctors. The BMA insists its revised offer along with extra benefits is fair. A fourth person's due in court later after a fire destroyed four Jewish community ambulances in North London. The fleet was targeted in an early morning attack in Golders Green last month. Three other people will appear at the Old Bailey next week. Remember, you can follow the Times Radio News Briefing on Spotify and you can listen live to Times Radio Online.

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