Newspaper headlines: 'The fight for Rhodes' as wildfire crisis deepens

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By BBC News
Staff
PA Media

Dame Alison Rose has agreed to step down as chief executive of Natwest

Many of the papers reflect the pressure on Dame Alison Rose to quit last night - before it emerged that she'd agreed to step down.

The Times quotes three cabinet ministers saying she "has no integrity", has "obfuscated at every turn" and "hasn't understood from the outset just how serious" the situation is. One tells the paper the bank's entire board "has to go if it wants to defend her".

That sentiment is echoed by one City boss, who tells the Daily Telegraph that "it's ridiculous" that the board backed her, saying Dame Alison broke "the cardinal rule of banking".

In its leader column, the Daily Mail says client confidentiality is a "fundamental tenet of banking" and demands an "unexpurgated explanation" of what's happened. It finishes with the question: "Can banks be trusted with our money?"

The FT reports that the government is planning to overhaul green targets for landlords in an attempt to ease the strain on the housing market. A Whitehall official tells the paper that the rules around energy performance certificates need "fundamental reform".

The i reports that the prime minister is delaying a separate policy that forces manufacturers to pay for recycling packaging.

The Guardian leads with a new report from the United Nations, which says smartphones should be banned from schools. The paper says the recommendation is designed to improve learning and help protect children from cyber-bullying.

Referring to the report, it says "excessive or inappropriate" use of technology by students in the classroom and at home can be "distracting, disruptive and result in a detrimental impact on learning".

"British holidaymakers angered by response from tour firms" is another headline in the Guardian.

A volunteer at an evacuation centre in Rhodes tells the paper that many tourists left stranded by wildfires have not received a response from their travel agencies.

One tourist says she was offered a flight to Manchester, but told by her travel company that she'd have to pay for a taxi for the 200-mile journey to her home in Wiltshire.

The Sun tells the story of a family from Manchester who fled their burning hotel and spent the next three days in their swimwear.

The Daily Mirror reports that plans to close almost all railway station ticket offices in England have been "plunged into chaos". It says a consultation on the proposals - which was due to end tonight - is expected to be extended until September, after what it calls "last-ditch crisis talks".

The paper's headline is: "Train delay... and for once it's a good thing."