What the papers say – January 24
With the findings from Sue Gray’s investigation into Downing Street due out in days, many of Monday’s papers continue to focus on the embattled PM.
The political crisis engulfing Boris Johnson’s leadership rages on, with the nation’s papers carrying the latest revelations in the partygate scandal.
The Telegraph writes that members of Met Police on duty at Downing Street during the alleged lockdown-busting parties have been interviewed by Sue Gray about what they witnessed.
As the Prime Minister awaits the findings from the partygate investigation, The Guardian writes that he has been pulled into another row after former minister Nusrat Ghani claimed she was subjected to Islamophobia by the Tories.
The Daily Express cites Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’s claim that Mr Johnson “recognises the need for change in the Downing Street operation”.
The Independent carries an exclusive about the Downing Street inquiry, claiming that No10 officials have held back information from Sue Gray’s investigation because they’ve been “frightened into silence”.
Elsewhere, the Daily Mail reports that Mr Johnson is being urged to rethink a proposed 1.25% hike to national insurance which is due in April – the same time as energy bills and council taxes are also set to rise.
Also on the theme of the looming cost-of-living crisis, the Daily Mirror splashes with the stories of those who will be hardest hit by soaring electricity bills.
Metro and The Times both have the latest on the deteriorating situation in Ukraine as 100,000 Russian troops look ready to invade. While the former paper carries the Ukrainian ambassador’s stark warning to President Putin, the latter reports that the invasion will also spark “record-breaking gas and petrol prices” in the UK.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times writes that Nelson Peltz’s “activist hedge fund” Trian Partners has invested in Unilever.
While The Sun splashes with Katie Price – writing that she could be facing up to five years in prison over an alleged abusive text.
And the Daily Star reports that a “quarter of all UFO sightings in the UK happen outside the pub”, according to an “important new study”.
