Revelations in a new book saying Queen Camilla was the victim of an attempted indecent assault as a teenager dominate Monday’s papers. The Daily Mail leads with the detail that the future Queen fought off her attacker on a train by “hitting him with her shoe”. Also splashed on the paper is Labour’s “civil war”, as it features shadow cabinet minister Alex Burghart saying senior figures in the party are more concerned with “jockeying” to take over from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer than dealing with problems facing the country.
The Daily Telegraph headlines with “Queen fought off sex attacker”. The paper says the incident, detailed in Power and the Palace by Valentine Low, occurred when the Queen was “16 or 17”. The Telegraph adds that the episode was relayed by the Queen to former PM Boris Johnson in 2008.
“Camilla whacked groper in goolies” is the Sun’s take. The paper notes the Queen’s campaign for victims and survivors of sexual and domestic abuse, and features a quote from the book of her saying she defended herself by doing “what my mother taught me to”.
The Times leads with a report that says the UK withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights will not jeopardise peace in Northern Ireland. The paper says the study by the Policy Exchange think tank says the argument is “entirely groundless”. Also front and centre is some “black magic” brought by actress Alicia Vikander, as she poses on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival.
Sir Keir has vowed to tackle Reform UK leader Nigel Farage’s “scare tactics”, repots the Daily Mirror. The paper says the PM is ready with a range of policices that “offer genuine hope” and accuses Farage of “talking down” to the British people. Sharing the top spot is Liverpool’s “stunner” of a win over Arsenal, after a “hotshot” made by Dominik Szoboszlai.
“The deadly war on journalism in Gaza” leads the Guardian, as the paper fills its front page with pictures of some of the reporters killed in the region during the3 conflict with Israel. A special report by the Guardian says at least 189 journalists have been killed in 22 months in Gaza. Alongside, the paper reports doctors have found a drug that is better than aspirin at preventing heart attacks and strokes. It says the “stunning” discovery could transform health guidelines worldwide.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says Europe is laying the “road map” for deploying troops in Ukraine, according to the Financial Times. In an interview with the paper, von der Leyen says European capitals are working on “pretty precise plans” for potential military deployments to support Kyiv as part of post-conflict security guarantees. Filling the top picture spot is the protests in Indonesia as people continue express their “rage at MPs” over politicians’ salary perks.
The Metro declares a “rail tickets revolution”, as the trialling of a pay-as-you-go ticketing app for passengers starts on Monday in England. The paper says the system which allows people to check in and out of rail journeys using an app on their phone could make travel “simpler and cheaper”. Elsewhere, the Metro teases a three-way “battle of the Bonds” between actors Aaron Taylor Johnson, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi.
The Daily Express announces their new campaign to “halt the shoplifting crisis” costing stores “more than £2.2bn a year”. The paper is demanding that police attend every reported theft as it says “opportunistic stealing sprees” have soared to record levels.
Finally, the Daily Star announces “Nessi’s back!” as it reports on what it says is a new sighting of the Loch Ness monster. The paper dubs the return of “Britain’s fave monster” as the “best in 30 years”.
The Times leads on a report, backed by former Labour Home Secretary Jack Straw, that finds withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights would not jeopardise peace in Northern Ireland.
It says the study – by the Policy Exchange think tank – dismisses the argument widely cited to oppose leaving the ECHR as “entirely groundless”.
Straw is quoted as saying the report “helps clear the ground” for a debate about leaving.
The Daily Mail focuses on the “sleaze crisis” surrounding Angela Rayner after the Conservatives argued that criticism of the deputy prime minister was being fuelled by a civil war within Labour over who should succeed Sir Keir Starmer.
Shadow cabinet minister Alex Burghart tells the paper it is “very likely” that Labour rivals of Rayner are behind leaks about her personal life and tax affairs.
The Mail says Rayner’s allies insist she is the victim of a smear campaign.
An asssertion by the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, that she was offered a place at a prestigious US medical school has been described as “impossible” and “implausible”, according to the Guardian.
It says Badenoch has told multiple interviewers she was invited to study at Stanford University in California when she was 16, but academic and admissions experts have said such an option does not exist at that age.
A spokesman for Badenoch insists she was offered the place and says the Tory leader questions “hysterical efforts” to disprove this.
The party’s deputy leader Richard Tice is quoted as blaming high fees and bad investments for wasting taxpayers’ money.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says it does not recognise Reform’s assertions about the Local Government Pension Scheme.
The Daily Express is demanding action to halt what it calls the shoplifting crisis.
It wants police to attend every reported theft as part of its “stop the shoplifters crusade”.
The policing minister, Dame Diana Johnson, tells the paper the government’s neighbourhood policing plan will reverse a decade of decline under the Conservatives.
