Morning briefing Tuesday 21st July

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 Times Radio's morning briefing on Tuesday the 21st of July. I'm Daryl Jackson. The new Prime Minister began announcing his new cabinet yesterday afternoon.

0:43He kicked off with a surprise, choosing former Defence Secretary John Healy as his Chancellor. Danny Blanchflower, former economic advisor to Labour, told Times Radio how he would advise him in his new post as Chancellor. The last thing you want to do is make announcements that the markets don't like. So here's an opportunity, get a bunch of advisors around you, who you can say, well, I'm studying X and Y, do nothing in the short term, and say I'm studying all kinds of things because I want to think about what the consequences of what I'm going to do. My advice would be get a whole bunch of advisers to try and lay out for you what the options are and don't do anything stupid.

1:21The PM then went on to retain Shabana Mahmood in her role at the Home Office and then promoted Ed Miliband to Foreign Secretary. More than a dozen cabinet ministers were in No. 10 well past 11pm last night, but the final appointments were announced shortly afterwards. Among them, Angela Rayner, who is returning to government as Housing Secretary. It's a job she was effectively forced to step down from in September last year, after being found to have broken the ministerial code over her tax affairs. Where streeting has been made the Defence Secretary, elsewhere Jonathan Reynolds returns to his old role of Business and Trade Secretary.

1:56Lucy Powell, Labour's Deputy Leader, gets a promotion as the Education Secretary. Dr Peter Prinsley, Labour MP for Burry St Edmonds and Stowmarket, told Times Radio what he made of the appointments. All of the people, I think, are very experienced ministers. I don't see any of the brand new MPs. And I think what he's done is he's made sure that he's appointed people who have experience and he can rely on them to enact this exciting new agenda that he's going to propose. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has said that Andy Burnham has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it and pledged that the US will be there to help.

2:37The early endorsement of the former Greater Manchester Mayor comes after the pair spoke on the phone within an hour of him arriving in Downing Street. Lord Darroch, former British ambassador to the US, told Times Radio it was a smart move for Burnham to call President Trump early. One, it gave them the opportunity to congratulate Trump on what has been a very successful World Cup. Second, he's capitalising on one thing that Trump will like very much, which is a suggestion that he might authorise some new drilling in the North Sea. British energy policy has actually nothing to do with the president, but nevertheless, Trump has been going on about this for a while.

3:16And, you know, who knows, he may even claim some credit for it. In other news, a 28-year-old man is set to appear in court this morning charged with the murder of former MP Anne Whittacombe. The reformed spokesperson was found dead in her Dartmoor home 12 days ago. Joshua Carey from Rotherham is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court. And wildfire warnings have been extended across much of Scotland, covering the Central Highlands, Southern and Eastern Scotland until Friday. Fire crews remain at the scene of a wildfire in the Glenmore area of the Cairngorms National Park, which has burned since last Wednesday.

3:48And crews have also been in attendance at a grass fire in Arthur's seat in Edinburgh since Sunday. And you can hear more on all of those stories throughout the day on Times Radio.

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