Newspaper headlines: 'End of the road for Boris' after Partygate report

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By BBC News
Staff

The front pages of Friday's newspapers are dominated by the Privileges Committee's report and the repercussions.

The Daily Mirror says one word now sums up Mr Johnson's story: Liar. It is stamped in large red letters across a photo of the former prime minister.

According to the Daily Mail, Tories "erupted in fury" at the findings, with Mr Johnson's allies branding the panel "vindictive" and "spiteful". The paper suggests the fallout from the report could prompt a fresh round of Tory "bloodletting", just as Rishi Sunak is trying to restore calm. The Daily Express's take is that Mr Johnson has been "hounded" from Parliament by a spiteful Whitehall "machine" that loathes him. It says mediocre MPs are determined to destroy the career of the man who delivered Brexit, led the country through Covid and united the free world in support of Ukraine.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Mr Johnson's allies have threatened to oust Tories who vote for the findings on Monday. It quotes Nadine Dorries - the former culture secretary, and a long-standing ally of the former prime minister - as saying that "deselections may follow" for MPs who vote through the report. The paper says just seven of the 352 Tory MPs have actually publicly stated they will vote against.

A number of the papers ask whether this is the end of Mr Johnson's political career, with the Telegraph concluding that the report is a serious "dent" in his hope for a comeback - though he isn't giving up on politics.

For the Financial Times, the Committee's report is "damning", a "searing indictment of Mr Johnson's conduct", and it wonders whether he can now ever stage a political return. The Times quotes allies of Rishi Sunak, who say it is the end of the road for Mr Johnson. "He's yesterday's game now," one senior supporter of the prime minister is reported as saying.

Metro also considers Mr Johnson's political future, with the playful headline "Is proper whopper a career stopper?".

Many front pages also picture the late Glenda Jackson, to mark her death at 87. The Express calls her a "fearless actor and politician". the Daily Mail says she was "an actress and MP like no other".

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