Friday’s front pages report on Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – the two contenders battling it out to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister. A number of the papers lead on the BBC’s apology over false claims that were used to obtain Panorama’s interview with Princess Diana in 1995.

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Tory leadership race – Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak battle on taxes

The Times focuses on the battle over tax as each candidate has slammed the other plan, claiming it would “wreck the economy and make families poorer.” The paper reports on a poll of Tory members suggesting 62 per cent would back Liz Truss whilst 31 per cent are supporting Rishi Sunak. 

The i says supporters of Penny Mordaunt are orchestrating a campaign to stop Liz Truss from becoming PM. The article says a number of MPs and Tory association chairmen will also lobby party members against the foreign secretary. There is a “lot of hurt” according to a source over the hostile media attack against her – for which they blame Liz Truss and her allies. 

In a piece for the Daily Mirror, they argue the Tory Party’s ”nostalgic obsession with Margaret Thatcher” is making it a “prisoner of the past.” The paper says Thatcher may gave won three elections, but that “greed, bigotry, trade union bashing, flogging the country’s assets cheap tp fatcats and the poll tax are her cursed legacy.” 

The Daily Telegraph’s front splash leads with suspicions that the main theory about the causes of Alzheimer’s may be based on manipulated data. Whilst the Financial Times reports on Tata Group –  which owns the Port Talbot steelworks – has threatened to shut the Welsh plant down if the government doesn’t agree to give it a subsidy of £1.5bn.

BBC apologises over Princess Diana interview

A number of the papers lead on the BBC’s apology over false claims involving Prince William and Harry’s former nanny – claims they used to obtain an interview with Princess Diana in 1995. The BBC will pay damages to Tiggy Legge-Bourke after the BBC falsely suggested that she had an affair with Prince Charles. 

Many of the papers have a headline saying, ‘BBC let Diana down’. The Daily Express welcomes the apology and says there are good reasons to hope the BBC has learnt from the mistakes and it will never happen again. 

Whilst the Sun says that the total cost of the scandal has swallowed tens of thousands in license fee money. The paper believes BBC should apologise to the public, who are forced by law to fund the BBC and therefore to compensate the people affected by the interview. 

Princess Diana’s brother Earl Spencer called on police to act over the false allegations. The Daily Mirror quotes him saying: “It’s amazing no criminal charges have been levelled.”