Morning briefing Monday 15th 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. This is the Times Morning Briefing for Monday 15th September. The first small boat migrants are due to be deported on commercial flights to France today under the so-called one-in, one-out returns deal.

0:46The first migrants will join tourists and business travellers on an Air France flight later, barring any last-minute legal challenges. Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by Labour MPs that he's in the last-chance saloon. It comes as he attempts to use Donald Trump's state visit to regain the political initiative in the wake of the Lord Mandelson scandal. The Prime Minister will make his first public appearance today, hailing a new landmark partnership with the US on nuclear power ahead of Trump's arrival. The Times' policy editor, Ollie Wright, has been assessing the mood in Westminster over the last few days.

1:24I think the mood is pretty mutinous. There is a lot of angst over the whole Mandelson scandal. There is a very strong feeling that Zakiya Starmer has not responded to the claims being made about Mandelson's appointment properly. they're worried about the new allegations that have come out that suggest that Starman may have been more aware of Mandelson's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein than Danning Street has so far admitted. Pope Leo has condemned the huge wages being earned by top chief executives. He's raised concerns about Elon Musk's likely rise to being a trillionaire. He made the comments in his first interview since being elected in May.

2:01The Times has Tom Kington has been taking a closer look at what he said. The interview was illuminating. He started off with a rather controversial opinion. He was talking about wage inequality and he was saying how 60 years ago the bosses of big companies might have been making four to six times more than what their workers were receiving. But he said, last time I checked, it was now 600 times more than what employees were making. The prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has refused to be interviewed by the Metropolitan Police ahead of his pending release from prison. The Met said it sent an international letter of request to 49-year-old German national Christian Bruckner for him to speak with them, which he later rejected.

2:45There have been countless tributes to the former world champion boxer Ricky Hatton, who was found dead at his home in Hyde yesterday at the age of 46. The hitman's career spanned 15 years, during which he won titles in the light welterweight and welterweight divisions. Promoter Frank Warren was Hatton's former manager. He told Times Radio that he was one of the sport's best love fighters. Everybody in boxing was stunned. The love that's there for him from the general public and people in boxing is just amazing. And it's well deserved because, you know, Ricky is a man of the people. Fans loved him because what he did in the ring.

3:21He was an exciting fighter, all-action fighter. Never left anything in there. I mean, he'd give his all. And you can follow The Times News Briefing on Spotify and listen live to Times Radio online.

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