Newspaper headlines: 'Crackdown on unions' and PM plans for third term

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

A former Tory cabinet minister accused Boris Johnson of being "delusional" over the suggestion he might fight two more elections, the Observer reports

A former Conservative cabinet minister accuses Boris Johnson of being "delusional" in the Observer, over the suggestion he might fight two more elections. The Sun on Sunday says "his boast was met with disbelief by senior Tories".

The Sunday Mirror calls the prime minister "deluded" and "shameless" for trying to brush off what it describes as "humiliating by-election thrashings". But the Mail on Sunday suggests he is being "defiant" and goading his critics, describing it as a "welcome bucket of cold water" thrown over the foolish Conservative figures who are sabotaging their own movement.

The Sun on Sunday describes Boris Johnson's suggestion that he could win not only the next general election but the one after as "ludicrous grandstanding." Its editorial urges him, "never mind a third term... focus on lasting the summer". The Sunday Mirror calls him "brazen" in "threatening to cling to power for 12 years". Writing in the Observer, commentator Andrew Rawnsley dismisses the plan, saying "whatever he's been inhaling it's not reality".

The Sunday Telegraph suggests the prime minister will finalise plans this week to impose steel tariffs on several developing countries and extend current limits on other nations, including China. The move, the Telegraph says, will risk fresh allegations that he is breaking international laws. The changes were raised by Lord Geidt when he resigned as Mr Johnson's ethics adviser, saying they put him in an "odious position." A No 10 source said that the government would "act in the national interest".

Both the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People say that Home Secretary Priti Patel has broken the law again over her treatment of asylum seekers. They cite a High Court ruling against plans to house refugees until 2026 in what the Mirror describes as "dilapidated" barracks in Kent.

The judge said this breached the Equality Act and that using Napier Barracks in Folkestone for five years was significantly different from doing so for two months. The Home Office said it was pleased that the court found in its favour on seven of eight grounds and maintained that using the site was better than relying on expensive hotels.

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Many of the papers pick up on the Sunday Times' lead story about the euro notes totalling more than £2.5m that Prince Charles is reported to have accepted for charity on separate occasions from a Qatari politician. The Mail describes it as a "new royal bombshell" with the biographer, Tom Bower, likening the reports that carrier bags were stuffed with some of the money to a scene from the television comedy, Only Fools and Horses. All the papers stress there was no suggestion of any illegality. Clarence House says all the correct processes were followed.

Writing in the Mail, Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries explains why she is setting a "very clear line" that "competitive women's sport must be reserved for people born of the female sex". She says she wants all sporting governing policies to follow this policy, arguing that those born male who go through puberty have a body with physical advantages over women, that make them stronger and faster.

The LGBTQ plus rights charity, Stonewall, tells the Express that "trans inclusion in sport" requires "nuanced, evidence-based discussion" not what it calls "inflammatory rhetoric".

And with rising prices, the Sunday Telegraph notes it is not surprising that the market for champagne has gone flat. Average prices for Moet, Bollinger and Laurent Perrier have all gone up markedly. But the Telegraph's editorial points out it is good news for British producers of sparkling wine as people reach for cheaper fizz.