Newspaper headlines: Minister sacked in 'sleaze row’ and ‘jab crisis’

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By BBC News
Staff
PA Media

"Tory minister sacked in fresh sleaze scandal" is the headline on the Independent online, as it reports that Conor Burns was dismissed as a trade minister on Friday.

According to The Daily Telegraph, he is alleged to have acted inappropriately towards a younger man at a hotel in Birmingham on Tuesday night, while the Conservative Party conference was taking place in the city.

The Guardian says that Mr Burns is the eighth Tory MP to have had the whip withdrawn within the past 18 months, but government sources say Liz Truss was quick to take action against him, in contrast to what the paper calls Boris Johnson's "reluctance" to suspend colleagues. Conor Burns says he will cooperate with the inquiry into the allegations and looks forward to clearing his name.

The i Weekend says that the prime minister is "locked in a cabinet battle" with the business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, after Ms Truss rejected plans to launch a public information campaign offering advice on how to save energy this winter. The paper says that the prime minister vetoed the proposals "on the grounds they would amount to a nanny state".

In its leader column, the Sun says the prime minister "should think again", saying that if there are power cuts across the UK, "she will sorely wish she had tried everything to avert them".

According to the Daily Express, a "cabinet rift" has also opened up between Liz Truss and the home secretary.

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It reports that Suella Braverman "wants to drive down net migration" from the current 239,000 to the "tens of thousands". But the paper says this puts her "on a collision course" with the prime minister, who "is understood to be planning to let in an extra 20,000 unskilled foreign workers each year" in a bid to grow the economy.

The Times reports that the government is planning to overhaul the subsidised childcare system in England. Parents of three and four-year-olds can currently claim at least 15 hours of free care per week, but the money is paid directly to nurseries. Under the reported proposals, grants could be handed to families instead.

"Booster jab crisis" is the headline on The Daily Mirror. It says just one-in-five over-50s in England has had a Covid-19 jab as part of the autumn booster programme. It reports that cases of the virus are now highest in the over-70s, and says there are fears of a deadly "twindemic" of flu and coronavirus infections this winter.

In an interview with The FT Weekend, the billionaire Elon Musk says he is not trying to buy Twitter for financial reasons. He tells the paper that "it's important that people have a maximally trusted and inclusive means of exchanging ideas", adding that the social media platform "should be as trusted and transparent as possible".

The Daily Mail says that the NHS in England will prescribe a diet of soup and shakes to people with type 2 diabetes, after the condition was reversed in nearly half of people in a clinical trial. Experts tell the paper that the programme could see 500 patients beat type 2 diabetes every week.

And the Liverpool Echo says that it's a "huge moment" for the city as it's chosen to host next year's Eurovision Song Contest, on behalf of Ukraine. It says that Liverpool's mayor believes the city will "do Ukraine proud".