Continuing pressure on Boris Johnson Ukraine tensions and concerns about the Duke of York are splashed across the papers as the working week concludes.
The i says the Prime Minister’s plan to tackle the cost-of-living crisis has been delayed by Downing Street turmoil, while The Guardian reports there is “alarm” at the Treasury that Mr Johnson could be preparing to scrap the national insurance rise to placate his MPs.
Mr Johnson’s allies warned rebel Tories of the perils of plotting against their leader and “repeating the self-inflicted wounds which ended the Margaret Thatcher era”, according to the Daily Express.
American officials have told The Times they fear being unable to impose effective sanctions on Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine because of years of “British tolerance of suspect money flooding into London”.
New Russian gas projects will face sanctions from the West if Moscow pushes ahead with its incursion into Ukraine, reports the Financial Times.
The Independent says Labour have criticised Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for spending half a million pounds of taxpayer money to fly on a private jet to Australia.
Top royals are cited by the Daily Mirror as being fearful the Duke of York “could damage the monarchy” with his civil sex trial tactics.
The Daily Mail reports the number of “fat cat” civil servants earning more than £150,000 per year has “soared” since Covid-19’s arrival.
The Daily Telegraph reveals a work from home tax loophole will be closed after officials warned Chancellor Rishi Sunak it had cost the Treasury nearly half a billion pounds during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, millions of people have gone back to work in towns and cities as Plan B Covid restrictions were eased, says Metro.
And the Daily Star suggests the Loch Ness monster has been spotted in Wimbledon, with the paper adding: “To be fair, stranger things have happened already this week.”
