Prince William is use his own land for social housing in a bid to end homelessness, he tells the Sunday Times. In his first newspaper interview since being elevated to Prince of Wales he says he is “absolutely” committed to establishing social housing on the Duchy of Cornwall estate that comes with his new role. He will announce a five-year nationwide project to tackle homelessness, backed by his Royal Foundation, this month. The Times also runs a harrowing account from a Syrian man who said he had to push people off him as he tried to survive a vessel capsizing near Greece.
The Sunday Telegraph leads on senior civil servant Sue Gray breaching impartiality rules which could have led to her suspension or sacking had she not quit, according to the “damning findings” of a Cabinet Office inquiry seen by the Sunday Telegraph. It concluded Ms Gray fell short of the Civil Service Code when she “quietly” took part in talks about joining Labour as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. The Prince of Wales is joined with his children Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte and Prince George in a heartwarming photo released for father’s day.
The sunday Mirror leads with what it calls the “first video” to emerge from Partygate, which it runs in full on its website. It claims to show a 2020 Tory bash showing dancing and drinking at the party’s headquarters attended by campaigns guru Benn Mallet. The paper reports the Metropolitan Police will assess the new video although the force has yet to respond to BBC inquiries as to whether it does plan to take another look at an event it previously investigated and issued no fines.
Also on the Partygate issue, the Mail on Sunday claims a leaked invitation shows Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sat on the Commons Privileges Committee that quizzed Mr Johnson over his behaviour during lockdown, went to a party during lockdown. The heir to the throne and young royals also make the front page of the paper. with the headline “Who loves you daddy” providing another reminder to readers that today is Father’s Day.
“Get a grip” headlines the Sunday Express as reports on leading Conservatives urging MPs to put the Boris Johnson saga behind them and focus on rescuing the inflation-inflicted economy. A senior MP warns the party faces “mutually assured destruction” if the in-fighting does not stop. Polling for the paper shows 24% want Mr Johnson to return to politics and 64% think he should not. Meanwhile, an animated Prince Louis “wows fans” at Trooping the Colour.
Boris Johnson is “just an ex-MP” of no particular importance according to Rishi Sunak allies. That’s the gist of the Observer front page headline but the accompanying story says this portrayal of Johnson risks infuriating supports of the former prime minister who insist Mr Sunak was complicit in many of the Covid related inquiries.
The Sunday People reports Jane McDonald has been named as the “top choice” to replace Phillip Schofield as host on Dancing On Ice. The cruise ship singer and ex-Loose Women panellist is said to have “blown ITV bosses away” when she stood in for Schofield hosting at the Soap Awards this month. Prince Louis makes another appearance on a front page, this time with his mother, the Princess of Wales, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “Kate’s super trooper” is the clever wordplay deployed for the headline.
Aliens and flying saucers have taken over the Daily Star’s front page. It runs a story about a mother who claims therapy caused her to remember being abducted by aliens 30 years ago. In a colourful tale, she tells the paper the creatures had “long fingers and almond-shaped eyes”.
The front page of the Sunday Mirror features a still image taken from what it calls the “bombshell” video apparently showing Conservative staff partying during lockdown. It says the footage “throws new light on the affair” and raises the prospect of a second police investigation into what it describes as “lockdown-busting parties that shamed the government”. In its leader column, the paper says Scotland Yard “must act”.
The Mail on Sunday says there is also pressure on the police to investigate Sir Bernard Jenkin, a Tory MP who was on the Privileges Committee investigating Boris Johnson, because of allegations he attended a separate event during lockdown. It says Sir Bernard’s claims that it was work-related have been “torpedoed” by a WhatsApp message sent by his wife, which it says invited people to “birthday drinks”. An ally of Mr Johnson tells the paper that this “invalidates the findings” of the Partygate investigation, claiming it has been “corrupted”.
The ongoing friction within the Conservative Party is highlighted on the front page of the Observer. It claims Rishi Sunak views Mr Johnson as “irrelevant”, with one senior source describing him as “just an ex-MP”. The paper says the prime minister hopes to contrast what it calls Mr Johnson’s “rule-breaking and chaos” with “the more studious and thorough style” of Mr Sunak. But the Mail On Sunday quotes an ally of Mr Johnson saying he will not launch a “jihad” against Mr Sunak because he wants the Tories to win the next election.
The Sunday Telegraph reports France’s President Emmanuel Macron wants to block UK defence secretary Ben Wallace as Nato head
The Sunday Express says some Conservative MPs are urging others to stop the in-fighting and focus on what it calls “terrifying rising inflation and mortgages”. One minister tells the paper that “people are sick” of the Tory “psychodrama” while another Conservative MP warns the party faces “mutually assured destruction” if the row does not stop. The headline is “Get a grip. Save the economy”.
The Sunday Telegraph claims to have seen what it calls the “damning findings” of the inquiry into the former civil servant Sue Gray, who compiled the report on Partygate. It says she has been found to have breached Whitehall impartiality rules for holding talks with Labour before she was offered the job of chief of staff to Sir Keir Starmer. According to the paper, Ms Gray could have been suspended or sacked, had she not quit. She denies she has done anything wrong.
Image source, Millie Pilkington/Kensington Palace
A picture of Prince William and his children Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte makes several front pages
The Sunday Telegraph also reports that the French President Emmanuel Macron is attempting to block the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace from being appointed head of Nato. There is speculation Mr Wallace could replace Jens Stoltenberg later this year. But the paper says French officials want the alliance’s next secretary general to be from the EU as part of a push to make the bloc less reliant on the US for security.
The Prince of Wales tells the Sunday Times that he will establish social housing on his Duchy of Cornwall estate, in an attempt to “end homelessness”. He says that homelessness has for too long been “managed” rather than “prevented”, and claims this challenge “is not insurmountable”. The paper says Prince William was inspired by the work of his mother, Princess Diana, who took him on a visit to a homeless shelter as a child.
