Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
Friday’s front pages are dominated by the end of the Met Police investigation into Partygate – as the country now awaits the Sue Gray report. Another story featuring on several front pages is the news of the £184m Euromillions winner as the couple decided to go public – they’re the UK’s biggest lotto winners.
The Daily Mail and the Express make it clear they are firmly in support of the prime minister. “What a farcical waste of time and £460,000,” says the Daily Mail. The paper says the public now wants to “move on” in the face of issues like the cost of living crisis and the war in Ukraine. The Express shares a similar tone on its front page: “Can we now just focus on the big issues?”
The Times and the Daily Telegraph say Sue Gray is demanding that key players in Partygate are named – the public is still awaiting her official investigation into the scandal.
The Times says her attempts to finalise the report are being frustrated by the refusal of the Met police to identify individuals.
“One rule for him?” says the front splash of The Independent. The paper says Downing Street staff who received fines for attending the same lockdown parties as the PM reacted with fury. “It’s a joke,” one source told the paper.
The Guardian strikes a similar tone. The paper says civil servants and special advisers are astonished and that the Met Police are under intense pressure to explain how they reached their conclusions.
Whilst the Daily Mirror’s front page carries a quote by the PM from last year: “No Covid rules broken” underneath, the paper highlights “126 fines.”
Away from Partygate, the Telegraph reports that some detectives are investigating rapes and murders from home, including in areas with some of the worst crime rates in the country.
Whilst the Financial Times says demands to override or scrap the Northern Ireland protocol are counterproductive
£184m lotto winners
The Metro leads on Britain’s biggest-ever lottery jackpot winners Joe and Jess Thwaites – who landed a whopping £184,262,899.10 – with a lucky dip bought just a day before.
The Daily Star’s headline jokes “that’s their energy bills covered for a few months then” as it says the lucky couple “will be able to heat their house and still have a few pennies left over for luxuries like food”.
The Sun says the couple celebrated with a £16.95 steak and chips at a restaurant. The paper quotes a family source as saying: “They were in such a celebratory mood they left a sizeable tip.”