Barnaby Joyce says he is “not looking for sympathy” after explaining that footage of him lying on a Canberra footpath and swearing into his phone was the result of combining alcohol and prescription drugs.

The Labour candidate for the 29 February Rochdale byelection, Azhar Ali, has “apologised unreservedly to the Jewish community” for comments which he described as “deeply offensive, ignorant and false.”

Monday’s front pages cover several different topics, with many domestic stories taking centre stage.

Comments from Defence Secretary Grant Shapps make several of the papers’ after Shapps attempted to stoke the culture wars again, with comments that the Army has gone ‘woke.’ 

The upcoming by-elections are a hot topic in the news today, with reports that Conservative MPs have “predicted fresh attacks on Rishi Sunak’s leadership within days” in the run-up to by-elections in Wellingborough and Kingswood.

Elsewhere, several of the front pages feature comments from King Charles, who thanked the nation for their support since his cancer diagnosis.

Several front pages feature images of King Charles expressing gratitude to the nation for its support following his cancer diagnosis.

Away from royal news, the upcoming by-elections next week also make the front pages. There are reports on internal fears over the Tory party suffering a massive loss. The fears come amid a tough time for the prime minister, who’s been involved in two contentious stories last week.

Keir Starmer defends Labour U-turn on £28bn green spending Sir Keir Starmer has defended his…