Morning briefing Friday 13th February

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0:35This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Friday the 13th of February. The Prime Minister signed off a redundancy payout of over a quarter of a million pounds to Sir Chris Wormald despite concerns from government officials that the public cost was unjustifiable. The Cabinet Secretary is leaving his post after only 14 months and is likely to be replaced by Dame Antonia Romeo. Sir Keir Starmer was told that ministers would have to issue a formal direction to make the payment because of a lack of a clear, compelling reason why the UK's most senior civil servant should be removed from his post. Children will be allowed to change their gender at school and use different pronouns if new guidance issued by the Education Secretary Bridget Philipson comes into effect.

1:21The Department for Education will tell teachers that schools should not initiate any action in suggesting that children change their gender and parents have to be consulted before their child is allowed to change their pronouns or wear a different uniform. Speaking to Times Radio, Mark Lehane, executive head teacher at Wooten Academy Trust and a former special advisor to the Secretary of State for Education, said he broadly welcomed the plans, but he had a few worries about the guidance in practice. What I'm a little bit worried about is when we had separate gender questioning guidance drafted before, we were able to look at the issue from different angles.

1:58So, for instance, when it talks about sport, it says you have to consider what's safe for children to do if they're doing sport together, boys and girls. But in the previous version, we talked about also what was fair, because whilst it might be safe for boys and girls to do sport together, it isn't necessarily fair for them to do it together. Sir Tony Blair is urging the UK government to lift its ban on new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences. A report from the Tony Blair Institute warns that the domestic production is a vital strategic asset and says oil and gas would have to remain part of the UK's energy mix for many years.

2:33The report has drawn comparison to statements made by President Trump, who referred to the North Sea as a great asset that the UK should exploit. Sixteen former ambassadors and military chiefs have signed a letter warning Donald Trump that NATO is vital for U.S. national security. The letter was published ahead of the Munich Security Conference, which begins today, and warns that leaving the group would raise U.S. costs and erode America's global influence. Nicholas Burns served as the U.S. permanent representative to NATO from 2001 to 2005. He told Times Radio why he signed the letter. Too many people in the current US administration have also been dismissive of NATO, have also actually been dismissive of our European allies.

3:20We are trying to make a statement here at home that the United States should continue to be in NATO, working with NATO, working respectfully with our allies, certainly not threatening the use of force. There's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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