Morning briefing Tuesday 12th May

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 Times morning briefing on Tuesday 12th May. Sakhir Starmer has been told by senior cabinet ministers to consider setting out a timeline for his departure after more than 70 Labour MPs called for him to go.

0:47The Times has been told that at least three ministers, including Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, want him to resign. Cabinet ministers are expected to tell him at Cabinet later that he needs to stand down. Paul Fleming is General Secretary of the Union Equity, which isn't affiliated with Labour. He's had since Friday to give the indication that he's going to change material direction and affect the reasons why people didn't vote Labour. Instead, what we had was a number of announcements of Blairite era big beasts being given big jobs. And we've had today's speech that contains nothing really material, no new broad church cabinet, no new broad church thinking, no new sort of direction for the party or the government.

1:30Labour MP Andrew Lewin says he's still loyal to Sir Keir Starmer. He has my support and he has the support of lots of MPs. The other thing I'd say, which is really important, because I've been reading the statements of a number of my colleagues and they are in very different places. There are colleagues who are talking about a swift timetable for change and there are others who are talking about an orderly transition. And the truth is that those sets of statements reflect preference for different candidates, one of whom, Andy Burnham, isn't even in Parliament. And this is what I'm alarmed about.

2:01We've got fantastic, talented people in the Labour Party. I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about a leadership contest that would take weeks, if not months, to play out, which we'll be looking inward and the country wouldn't thank us for. Tehran has labelled Donald Trump's latest peace plan excessive, demanding full sanctions relief and an end to the US blockade before any nuclear negotiations can begin. Kurt Volker is former US ambassador to NATO. We have absolute military dominance. But can we turn that into a success in terms of getting Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, to give up nuclear weapons?

2:40The problem is that that military instrument doesn't translate into those things unless you are willing to really escalate, possibly use ground troops, etc., which Trump doesn't want to do, and certainly the American people don't want to do. The building where the Beatles played their final gig, Apple Corps Headquarter at 3 Savile Row, is being transformed into a Beatles experience that hopes to open in 2027. So Paul McCartney says he wants fans to have an official Beatles destination in London. Michael Purvis is in charge of Beatles Tours London. There's seven of the floors. It's going to be a fantastic experience, apparently.

3:18I think they're going to try and replicate the studio in the basement and have some sort of special attraction on the roof. There's more of these stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

3:34This episode of the Times Radio News Briefing is sponsored by PwC. AI is everywhere. In the news, in our hands, but return on investment, not so much. So how do you get beyond the hype and deliver AI that powers reinvention and growth across your business? Strong foundations unlock AI's potential. That's why PwC takes you further with tech, strengthening the data quality, processes, and workflows that shape how well AI performs. PwC turns innovation into implementation, so you can accelerate from experiment to scale. Discover more at pwc.co.uk.

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