Morning briefing Thursday 15th October

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1:21This is Times Radio's morning briefing on Thursday 15th October. I'm Daryl Jackson. Elon Musk has suggested the US could be behind limits put on the speed at which some of Ukraine's weapons can travel and stay connected to SpaceX's Starlink internet network. Officials in Ukraine had reported limitations on the network had disrupted several missions. Last night, Mr. Musk said his SpaceX Starshield system, a military version developed for the Pentagon, is controlled by the U.S. government. There's been no comment from the Trump administration. But Jim Townsend, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, told Times Radio he believes ultimately the Tesla owner holds the cards.

2:05I understand he said, well, you know, the Starshield, that's under the control of the president and the U.S. military. You know, maybe that's where the contract is. But at the end of the day, I think Elon Musk still can pull the plug if he wanted to. So the bigger question is, in this day and age, how can nations be dependent on the commercial side and an individual like Elon Musk for so much of their defence? All this came after the Prime Minister hosted Ukraine's president at Downing Street for talks yesterday. Andy Burnham told Vladimir Zelensky, we are behind you and that will not change. Zelensky was in London as part of efforts to reinforce backing from allies after Donald Trump called for him to go and lifted sanctions on Russian diesel.

2:49Lord Ricketts, a former national security advisor, told Times Radio the US president has decided President Zelensky is responsible for the rise in diesel prices. The Trump choice is he is going to do absolutely everything to try and get that diesel price down in the US before the midterm elections in a few weeks' time. And so everything else gives way to that. And so now, yep, he's decided that the problem about that is Zelensky and Zelensky's attacks on Russian energy sites, not accepting that the real problem was the war he started in Iran. Here, the government's announced Britain will fund critical repairs to the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine hit by a Russian drone attack last year.

3:29The UK will provide£17 million to help restore its protective shelter and ventilation. The Chancellor John Healy says as a government's commitment to the Ukrainian people is unshakable. Reform UK has said there is no room for racism in its party, after ITV News broadcast undercover filming of some of its councillors and candidates using racist, violent and sexist language. Labour described the investigation as truly sickening. A Reform spokesperson said that where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced. They added that in some cases there have been suspensions.

4:07Political commentator and biographer of Nigel Farage, Michael Crick, told Times Radio the response is outrageous. Reform have used the horrible word inappropriate to talk about some of the things these people were saying. It wasn't inappropriate. It was horrendous. They've got no idea in Reform High Command of the just appalling level of racism and sexism amongst many of the people that they claim to have vetted. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.