Morning briefing Wednesday 4th February

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 Radio News Briefing for Wednesday the 4th of February. The Conservatives are due to table a motion in Parliament today looking to force the government to release all information relating to Sir Keir Starmer's appointment of Lord Mandelson as Ambassador to the United States.

0:49Scotland Yard are investigating allegations the former Cabinet Minister leaked market-sensitive information to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein while serving in Gordon Brown's government. Tory leader Kemi Badenock demanded Downing Street explain the vetting process as she claimed concerns were waved away. It's already been announced he'll quit the House of Lords after the Prime Minister threatened legislation to force him out. Patrick Maguire is chief political commentator for The Times. Indeed, there are questions about the level of vetting and the level of inquiry undertaken by the Cabinet Office, the Foreign Office, Downing Street, before Peter Manelson was appointed.

1:25The fact he was appointed before he'd undergone the rigorous, developed vetting, that all appointees to positions of any seniority at the heart of government must undergo. Meanwhile, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is facing renewed questions after police said they're looking into allegations Epstein sent a woman to the UK for a sexual encounter with him. He's now moved out of Royal Lodge in Windsor to the Royal Sandringham Estate. He's being urged once again to appear in front of Congress to tell US politicians what he knew about Epstein's activities. He's always resisted calls to testify, but they are once again growing stronger.

2:05Now Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to do just that. Bob Weiner served in the Clinton administration and is a staunch ally of theirs. Yes, of course everybody should testify, but the Justice Department now, and by the way, if it doesn't happen in this administration, It can be done by the next committee, my committee, the Government Operations Oversight Committee that I was a spokesman of. They will have the subpoena power when they get the majority in the next Congress to get the information and get it out and to do the investigations that are necessary. Three in four cancer patients will survive the disease thanks to a revolution in medicine over the next 10 years.

2:45That's something the government has promised. While streeting, the health secretary announced a national cancer plan to improve NHS care, which he said would save 320 ,000 lives by 2035. It involves spending£2.3 billion on scanning equipment, testing technology to speed up diagnosis and a significant expansion of robotic surgery. Trilateral talks on Ukraine are set to resume today, even after Russian strikes left thousands in Kiev without heat. Ukrainians are struggling with temperatures which are dropping as low as minus 20 degrees. Yulia Serko is a member of parliament there. She says the only thing that will bring a sustainable ceasefire is ensuring more weapons for Ukraine.

3:28We need long-range missiles, we need air defence system, etc. In this type of security guarantees, we do believe. In words and even written obligations, we do not believe. because the Russians will be breaching agreements as soon as it will be signed.

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