Newspaper headlines: PM's ethics adviser quits and Euro court threat

1px transparent line
By BBC News
Staff
PA Media

"Geidt of the long knives," is the Spectator's take on the resignation of Lord Geidt as the prime minister's ethics adviser.

The website says there had been signs that the peer was "frustrated" at the government's handling of issues including Boris Johnson's fine for a Downing Street lockdown gathering, but No 10 insiders have told the Financial Times that the announcement came as a "total surprise".

The Times says Mr Johnson is likely to struggle to find a replacement, because he is looking for a third ethics adviser in just over two-and-a-half years.

"Stuck waiting for a plane that never takes off - if that doesn't qualify them for British citizenship I don't know what does" is the caption accompanying the Daily Telegraph's Matt cartoon as the fallout from the failed Rwanda asylum flight continues to make headlines.

The Sun describes the current situation as "plane crazy", because while hotels in Kigali lay empty, hundreds more migrants arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel.

The Daily Mirror takes the opposite view, calling the government's plans "plane wrong" - with new notifications for people due for relocation set to be sent out before the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that ministers may ignore future rulings from the European Court of Human Rights amid fury within government at how Strasbourg blocked the Rwanda flight.

It says Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will examine whether it will be possible to disregard injunctions in cases already considered by British judges.

But according to the i newspaper, any attempt to pull out of the European Convention of Human Rights could meet big obstacles, because the legislation is written into the Good Friday Agreement.

Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your inbox.

Many column inches are dedicated to next week's impeding rail strikes. Writing in the Sun, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps accuses unions of wanting to keep outdated practices that he says should be "consigned to the Museum of Industrial Relations".

The Daily Express draws attention to a mother in south Wales who faces three 60-mile round trips to get her sons to exams.

The Guardian reports that the RMT union has called for direct talks with the Treasury, but the paper reveals the last meeting involving the union and a minister took place in March.

"Please save Beatrix" is the plea on the front of the Daily Mirror from a couple who donated the heart of their stillborn child and now need an organ donor for their 16-month-old daughter.

Beatrix Archbold suffered heart failure earlier this year when her family thought she had Covid. Her father, Terry, says the condition is not linked to what happened to her sister, Isabel, and can only be attributed to "bad luck".

Getty Images

And finally, the Times toasts what it calls a "sparkling day" for Sussex after wine from the region was awarded protected status.

The paper says the judgement brings the area in line with other well-known winemaking regions including Champagne, Burgundy, Rioja and Tuscany.

But according to the Daily Telegraph, not everyone is pleased. Rival wine producers in Kent described the designation as a "marketing exercise" - a criticism the paper dismisses as "sour grapes".