Newspaper headlines: Macron re-elected and 'Tory rebels plot to oust PM'

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By BBC News
Staff
EPA

Emmanuel Macron has become the first French president to win re-election for 20 years

Most of the front pages picture Emmanuel Macron celebrating winning his second term as President of France. The Guardian highlights Mr Macron's pledge to unite the country after what the paper calls a decisive victory. The Daily Telegraph says he was close to tears as he told those who hadn't voted for him, that he owed them. The paper sees parallels with Boris Johnson's election victory in 2019 when he thanked former Labour voters for backing the Conservatives.

Marine Le Pen has put her defeat down to voters ganging up to block her and promised to take revenge in parliamentary elections in June, according to the Times.

The French newspaper Le Figaro salutes Mr Macron for a breathtaking achievement, saying he severely beat Le Pen and reduced the left to crumbs. Libération thanks voters for having the political maturity to refuse far-right populism. It says Mr Macron's foremost task must now be to cure what it calls the French malaise by seeking to heal the country's divisions. After a campaign without enthusiasm, reports Le Monde, the hard part begins.

An official said to be familiar with the contents of the Sue Gray report on lockdown parties in Westminster tells The Times the findings are so damning that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have no choice but to resign. The report - the release of which is on hold while police continue their investigations - is said to be highly critical of both Mr Johnson for attending some of the events, and of the culture in Downing Street under his leadership.

PA Media

A number of papers lead with the rising cost of living

The Mail quotes experts who warn that a shortage of hormone replacement drugs could lead to menopausal women taking their own lives. The paper says oestrogen gel has been in short supply since the start of the year, leading some women to turn to the black market. Suppliers tell the Mail they're increasing production amid unprecedented demand, while the paper's leader column praises the Health Secretary Sajid Javid for appointing an 'HRT Tsar' to help tackle the shortfall.

The Daily Mirror and the Daily Express lead on cost of living pressures. A survey carried out on behalf of the Mirror suggests that just over half of UK households won't be able to afford their bills within months. Experts tell the Express that soaring inflation will create a "year from hell" for vulnerable pensioners.

And the Sun says a bungling US spy left British military secrets available online for anyone to find after he uploaded them so he could work from home. The dossier reportedly included information about the RAF's Typhoon jets, and named American counter-terror staff who work in the UK. The Sun says US officials scrambled to remove the files after the paper alerted Whitehall. An editorial asks what "security compromises others may also have made for the sake of work/life balance in the pandemic".