Newspaper headlines: 'Truss has days' as 'MPs tout Mordaunt and Sunak'

By BBC News
Staff

"PM has 17 days to save her job" reads the headline on the front of the Daily Mail, which says Tory whips are warning that Liz Truss could face a leadership challenge if the chancellor's economic statement due at the end of the month fails to stabilise financial markets.

A former cabinet minister tells the paper Ms Truss is going to have to reverse the mini-budget and probably sack Kwasi Kwarteng if she is to have a chance of surviving. In its editorial, the paper says the prime minister is in an impossible bind. The Guardian agrees, saying backing down from her plan not to increase corporation tax could be fatal for her premiership, as it was so central to her leadership campaign.

Mr Kwarteng tells the Daily Telegraph he is "not going anywhere" - although the interview was conducted in Washington, shortly before he did just that and flew back to the UK earlier than planned. The chancellor does not directly rule out changes to his mini-budget, but defends the plans for corporation tax - saying "nobody's argued against keeping it very, very competitive".

The Times speaks to a senior Tory who says an overwhelming majority of Conservative MPs support the idea of replacing Ms Truss and Mr Kwarteng with the "joint ticket" of Rishi Sunak and Penny Mordaunt. A former minister tells the paper between 20 and 30 former ministers and senior backbenchers are attempting to find a way for a "council of elders" to tell Ms Truss to quit.

EPA

The Daily Star's front page headline asks "which wet lettuce will last longer?" above images of the prime minister and an iceberg leaf. The paper says bookies are offering odds of six to one that a 60p lettuce from Tesco will outlast the premiership of Ms Truss.

Away from politics, the Guardian reports on how a family uncovered abuse at a luxury care home by hiding cameras in the room of their elderly mother. The paper says staff at the Surrey home were filmed abusing, assaulting and taunting the 88-year-old who has dementia. The operators of the home, which charges residents close to £100,000 a year, have apologised for the behaviour. They tell the paper several care workers have since resigned or been fired and one cleaner has been charged by police with common assault.

In an interview in the Daily Mirror, Gary Lineker vows to use his coverage of the football World Cup to turn the spotlight on homophobia and human rights abuses in Qatar. The presenter tells the paper he knows of two Premier League stars thinking of coming out and says he hopes they will do so during the tournament, to send a message to countries where being gay is illegal.

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There is outrage in the Sun that the referee who allowed Maradona's infamous hand of God goal in the 1986 World Cup could cash in on his blunder. The Tunisian referee is expecting to sell the ball used in the match for £3m. The paper says the pain of the goal not being disallowed "still rankles 36 years on" - but not half as much as the ref becoming a multi-millionaire.