Newspaper headlines: BBC 'let Diana down' and Sunak 'goes on attack'

Margaret Thatcher pictured in 1983

An editorial in the Mirror argues that the Conservative Party's "nostalgic obsession with Margaret Thatcher" is making it a "prisoner of the past"

By BBC News
Staff

Conservatives Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the two contenders vying to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, feature again on a number of the front pages.

The Times focuses on their escalating battle over tax, reporting that each candidate has warned the other plans would "wreck the economy and make families poorer".

The paper also highlights a poll of Conservative members suggesting that 62% of them are backing Ms Truss, with 32% supporting Mr Sunak.

According to the i, supporters of Trade minister Penny Mordaunt, knocked out of the race in the final vote among MPs, are orchestrating a campaign to try to stop Ms Truss from becoming prime minister. The article says a number of MPs and Conservative association chairmen will also lobby party members against the foreign secretary. A source said there was "a lot of hurt" among Ms Mordaunt's supporters over hostile media briefings against her for which they blame allies of Ms Truss.

An editorial in the Daily Mirror argues that the Conservative Party's "nostalgic obsession with Margaret Thatcher" is making it a "prisoner of the past". The paper says Ms Thatcher may have won three elections, but that "greed, bigotry, trade union bashing, flogging the country's assets cheaply to fatcats and the poll tax are her cursed legacy".

The Daily Telegraph's front page reports on suspicions that the main theory about the causes of Alzheimer's disease may be based on manipulated data. In 2006, scientists from the University of Minnesota published a paper proposing that the illness is triggered by a build-up of amyloid plaques in the brain, but now the journal Science says the images used at the time to support the theory may have been doctored. The Telegraph says it means research into dementia may have been misdirected for 16 years, potentially wasting billions of pounds.

A report in the Financial Times says Tata Group - which owns the Port Talbot steelworks - has threatened to shut the Welsh plant down if the government doesn't agree to give it a subsidy of £1.5bn. The money would go towards the cost of decommissioning the existing two blast furnaces and replacing them with new electric arc ones in order to reduce carbon emissions. The paper says decarbonising the UK steel industry is vital if the country is to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Reuters

The owner of the Port Talbot steelworks is said to be threatening to close plant down unless it receives a £1.5bn subsidy

A number of the papers lead on the BBC's apology over false claims allegedly used to obtain Panorama's interview with Princess Diana in 1995. The corporation is paying damages to Tiggy Legge-Bourke, a former nanny to Princes William and Harry, who it was falsely suggested had had an affair with Prince Charles. In an editorial, the Daily Express welcomes the apology and says there are good reasons to hope the BBC has learnt from appalling mistakes that will never be repeated.

But the Sun says the total cost of the scandal has swallowed tens of thousands in licence fee money. The paper says the corporation should also apologise to the public, which has been forced by the law not only to fund the BBC, but also to compensate the people affected by the episode.

And the Daily Mirror reports that Princess Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, has called on the police to act over the false allegations. The paper quotes him saying: "It's amazing no criminal charges have been levelled."