Morning briefing Friday 20th February

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0:35This is the Times Morning Briefing on Friday 20th February. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has become the first senior royal in modern history to be arrested. The former prince spent most of his birthday in police custody yesterday on suspicion of misconduct in public office during his time as the UK's trade envoy. He's since been released under investigation. Nick Serple, the former obituaries editor for the BBC, looks at what the king might do next. The King can't make any decision at all about removing Andrew. It's a decision that Parliament makes, but they have to get the agreement of every single Commonwealth country.

1:10So it's quite a long, drawn-out process to do it. It can be done. Changes have been made in the past. But that really is about the only sanction left that I can think of that they've got. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied wrongdoing. World leaders attended the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump's Board of Peace in Washington, D.C. yesterday. Sixty nations have been invited to join at a cost of a billion dollars each, but many have refused, including the U.K., Germany and France. Dave Lawler is National Security Editor at Axios. You know, there isn't universal buy-in globally, particularly because Trump has said the Board of Peace isn't just about Gaza, it's about peace all around the world.

1:51What does that mean? Does that mean he wants it to be the new UN Security Council? I think there's not that much clarity, which is why we saw a whole bunch of countries turn up, but some others decide to stay away. Sir Keir Starmer is blocking a request by President Trump to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran, telling him that it would be in breach of international law. The locations include British facilities at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is home to America's fleet of heavy bombers in Europe. Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, these bases can only be used for military operations against third countries that have been agreed in advance with the government.

2:32The former South Korean President Yoon Soon-yeol has been sentenced to life in prison for his failed martial law declaration in late 2024. The 65-year-old staunch conservative had defended his decree as necessary to stop liberals who he described as anti-state forces. Raphael Rashid is a journalist in Seoul. In the past, we had a military dictator, Chang Du Huan, in the 1980s, who also led an insurrection and was sentenced to death. The difference that the legal experts are saying here, as well as the courts, is that that was from bottom up. So these were not elected people. But this time, Yun has done it from the very top.

3:14So they say that this is even more serious and that he deserves even more. and there's more on these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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