Newspaper headlines: 'Sunak support surges' and schools face 'cost of chaos'

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

Boris Johnson arrives at Gatwick Airport after a holiday in the Caribbean

The Sunday Times asks if the tide is going out on Boris Johnson. It says the Tory right has spurned the former prime minister while support for Rishi Sunak is surging.

It quotes a Johnson ally who says several members of his team are urging him to endorse Sunak and end the war that has torn the Conservatives apart.

Writing in the same paper, the International Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, warns colleagues that the party needs "patient, honest, competent, Conservative virtue", not nostalgia for what she calls "the cavalier elan" of 2019.

The Observer says that senior Tories are engaged in a frantic campaign to stop Johnson returning to Downing Street, with claims that he could bring about the end of the Tory party.

The Sunday Express is delighted to see him back though, reporting that he is on course to pull off the biggest comeback in political history. His picture appears on the front page of the Sun, looking rather grim-faced while giving a thumbs-up and holding a phone.

The paper says he was bleary-eyed as he rang around Tory MPs after an all-night flight back from his Caribbean holiday.

The Sun says Johnson and Sunak need to set an example to their party by healing their rifts. The headline wonders if it'll be "Deal or No Deal".

That's also the main question for the Mail on Sunday, which has a poll suggesting the ex-prime minister would offer the Conservatives the best chance at a general election. However, the survey still gives Labour a 10-point lead and a Commons majority of 26 with Johnson in charge.

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The Sunday Mirror argues that poll after poll shows the people want a change of government, not just a change of leader.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Fraser Nelson, the editor of the Spectator, asks if the new Boris Johnson would be any different from the old one, who he says panicked and spent so much it might yet bankrupt the country.

The paper's cartoon has a tourist guide telling sightseers in London: "You can see Changing of the Guard in the morning, and Changing of the PM most afternoons."

The Sunday People reports that head teachers are unscrewing lightbulbs to cut bills and taking outside jobs to fill gaps in their school budgets.

Paul Gosling, the president of the National Association of Head Teachers, tells the paper that heads are worried about keeping the lights on and heating classrooms. The Department for Education responds that all schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme.

Finally, it was a post-war mainstay of school dinners which was ridiculed in a Monty Python song but, according to the Sun, spam is making a comeback. The annual Waitrose Food and Drink Report reveals a 36% increase in sales of the tinned cooked pork product since last year.

Other budget staples are also regaining their popularity as the cost of living rises. Beef shin, ox cheek and pilchards are said to be flying off the shelves.