Published a day before the deadline set by the US president, the BBC’s official apology to Donald Trump headlines the Guardian’s front page. Under the headline “BBC apologizes to Trump over Panorama, but rejects billion-dollar claim,” the paper cites the BBC’s public statement that it “sincerely regrets” how it edited a clip of his speech into a Panorama documentary, but disagrees that there is a basis for Trump’s defamation claim.
The Daily Telegraph, which originally broke the story about Panorama, has a new angle involving another big BBC show. It says Newsnight also misleadingly edited a clip of Trump from the same speech, for a show in 2022, two years before Panorama. The newspaper says the “spliced footage” seemed to suggest Trump was encouraging his supporters to riot. In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC is held to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now investigating it.”
Meanwhile, Metro turns its attention to the long-running debate over how politicians can deal with asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats. Its title “84 in… 113 out” compiles the latest total for the government’s recently introduced one-in, one-out strategy. It would be encouraging news for Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood, but the newspaper maintains that the figure is “dwarfed” by the total of more than 8,000 people who have arrived in small boats since the agreement began.
In a further effort to crack down on illegal migration methods, the i Paper reports that Mahmood will unveil stricter “Denmark-style” laws that include deporting 95% of rejected asylum seekers and creating barriers to family reunions. The measure is aimed at deterring new arrivals and restricting refugees to a temporary stay in the country, the newspaper says.
Those new measures, expected to be announced next week, would be “the most radical asylum reforms since World War II,” the Times says. The Home Secretary hopes stricter rules will help tackle the “pull factors” that have made the country a European destination for “asylum buyers”, the paper says.
The fallout from Jeffrey Epstein’s newly released emails continues to dominate the Daily Mirror’s news agenda. The article focuses on accuser Virginia Giuffre’s allegations that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was aware of the late sex offender’s conduct. “Andrew ‘knew Epstein had abused girls'” is the headline, which appears next to the infamous photo of Andrew and Epstein walking through New York’s Central Park in 2010. Andrew has consistently denied Ms. Giuffre’s allegations.
Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson is also caught up in the Epstein fallout, as the Daily Star reports she plans to move to her daughter Princess Eugenie’s villa in Portugal to escape the media storm. “Ferg go away… and don’t come back” is the newspaper’s forceful farewell.
The Daily Mail focuses its attention on revelations from an independent review of Sara Sharif’s case that identified multiple failings by agencies before her murder in Surrey in 2023, after years of abuse by her parents. The document highlights a finding that revealed that the Sharif family’s neighbors heard things that worried them, but hesitated to voice their concerns for “fear of being seen as racist.”
“Sara failed by officials ‘afraid to offend’,” echoes the Daily Express, as it says the “damning review” found that social workers did not fully question why Sara was wearing a hijab – which concealed her wounds – because they were “too afraid of being branded a racist”.
The Independent presents another damning report, by cross-party MPs warning that Afghans who served in UK forces remain vulnerable after the MoD failed to implement safeguards following multiple data breaches. Also gracing the front page is a photo of Sir David Beckham taking a hit, as the paper says the former footballer is backing its campaign to throw a lifeline for missing children.
Meanwhile, in Europe, a “call to arms” in Germany guides the Financial Times. Berlin has ruled that all 18-year-old German men must undergo medical inspections to see if they are fit to serve in the army as part of a recruitment drive, the newspaper reports.
Finally, the Sun splashes out with another “Ramsay wedding row exclusive.” The newspaper reports that Adam Peaty’s brother has been arrested over allegations that he sent threats to the Olympian during his stag party, ahead of the swimmer’s wedding to social media influencer Holly Ramsay. James Peaty was questioned by police and later released on conditional bail.
