Newspaper headlines: Lineker 'chaos' pressures BBC chiefs and asylum plan

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By BBC News
Staff
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A "day of unprecedented drama", is the Mail on Sunday's verdict on the lack of football coverage on the BBC after Gary Lineker was taken off air. The paper says TV and radio schedules were ripped up because other presenters and pundits refused to go on shows. The Mail calls what happened an "astonishing staff mutiny".

The Sunday Express says the "blackout" left "BBC bosses battling to fill the schedule". There was no Football Focus or Final Score on BBC One, with the Sunday Telegraph noting that episodes of Bargain Hunt and the Repair Shop were shown instead.

The Sunday Times lifts the lid on what it calls "24 hours of anarchy" at the corporation as Gary Lineker was suspended. One staff member has described the situation as "so farcical" it would not even be believable as a plotline for the mockumentary series, W1A. Potential stand-in hosts for Match of the Day feared being seen as a "scab", while according to one source, of those not wise enough to say "no" to the gig, their agents did it for them.

The issue that sparked the row about Gary Lineker - the government's new asylum policy - is covered by the Observer ahead of the proposals being debated by MPs on Monday. The paper reports that the former Home Secretary Priti Patel is considering a "potentially explosive intervention" about what the bill means for the detention of children.

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, the Labour peer, Baroness Lister, predicts many in the House of Lords will reject the legislation as "cruel and inhumane".

The immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, acknowledges the plans are "tough", but he tells the Sunday Express the asylum system is at "breaking point".

The Scottish Mail on Sunday reports that nearly 50,000 members have abandoned the SNP in the past three years. The party used to have 125,000 members in 2019. But 78,000 names have been sent to the polling company running the ballot to elect a new SNP leader and first minister of Scotland. The Mail says just 54,000 are expected to submit a vote. The SNP has refused to confirm exact numbers.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have not been invited to the Kings coronation in May, according to a report in the Sunday Telegraph.

The children are aged three and one. Prince Harry and Meghan are said to be still "weighing up" whether to go to Westminster Abbey. If they do turn up, a friend of the royal family has told the Mail on Sunday that the Sussexes are likely to get "the cold shoulder" because many of their relatives want nothing more to do with them.

"Sacre bleu", declares the Sunday Express, as it reports on the takeover of the pasty company Proper Cornish by a French snacks firm.

Groupe Boncolac has told the Sunday People there will be no change to the delicacy. But fans are not convinced.

The Daily Mirror reports that one moaned online: "They won't be the same", while another suggested people could soon be tucking into tender frog's leg alongside the traditional swede, onion and potato.