'Harry's tea with the King' and 'Mandelson on brink'

Two men feature prominently on many of the front pages on Thursday. The first is Lord Mandelson, under increasing pressure over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. "Now Mandelson must be fired" is the main headline in the Daily Mail, which talks of a "chorus of cross-party fury". The i Paper describes the position of the British ambassador to the US as being "on the brink".

One person familiar with the process of appointing Lord Mandelson to the Washington job tells the Guardian he would been subject to the highest level of checking - known as developed vetting - which is likely to have touched on his association with Epstein. In its leader column, the Daily Telegraph says that, once again, this is a story about Sir Keir Starmer's weakness in dealing with personnel issues in his government.

Prince Harry is also pictured on the front of many of the papers, arriving at Clarence House to meet his father, the King, for tea. "When Harry met Charlie" is the headline in the Daily Star. The Sun goes with: "One's tea for two". For the Mirror, the reunion raises hopes the pair can heal their "damaging rift".

Elsewhere, both the Telegraph and the Times say Britain is considering sending fighter jets to Poland to help bolster its defences after Russian drones were shot down over its territory. In an editorial, the Times says Moscow's drone raid was a "blatant provocation" requiring a united response

The main story for the Financial Times is the decision of the US drugmaker Merck to scrap a plan to build a one billion pound research centre in London and to lay off 125 scientific staff. The group said the UK was not "internationally competitive". The head of the British Pharmaceutical Industry tells the paper the decision is a "real blow" to the UK's ambitions to develop the life sciences sector.

And finally, several papers feature a picture of green fingered Lee Herrington who's grown a pumpkin weighing 53 stone. He tells the Daily Express the key to his success is giving it ten gallons of water a day, plus a regular helping of cow dung.

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