Newspaper headlines: Cabinet 'showdown' talks amid election 'threat' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 2 April 2019

image copyright Getty Images image caption Tuesday's cabinet meeting is the subject of much speculation among many of the papers

Many of Tuesday's papers react after MPs again failed to agree on proposals for the next steps in the Brexit process.

"April Fools" is how the 'i' sums up MPs after last night's Brexit votes in Parliament. "MPs choose nothing," says the Daily Mirror.

"It's back to square one," according to the Daily Mail . Both that paper and the Daily Express call the failure of a majority of MPs to back any of the four alternative Brexit solutions debated a "farce".

The Guardian says today's cabinet meeting will be dominated by "crisis talks" after MPs failed to back either a softer Brexit or a referendum last night.

The Independent says the cabinet meeting promises "fireworks" as ministers discuss the increasingly likely general election "nobody actually wants". The Daily Telegraph says Theresa May will use the threat of an election, or a long Brexit delay, to try to persuade her party to put aside their differences and back her withdrawal deal.

Britain's highest-ranking civil servant, Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, has issued a "doomsday" analysis of how the country would be affected if the UK left without a deal, the Daily Mail reports.

The paper has seen extracts of a leaked letter to ministers which it says warns of a 10% spike in food prices, the collapse of some small businesses and the re-introduction of direct rule in Northern Ireland. It also says it'll be more difficult for the police and security services to keep people safe. Downing Street declined to comment.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph , former Conservative leader William Hague says he inherited a party in ruins after the 1997 election, but the situation in the party is much worse today - and there's every possibility of those hoping to replace Theresa May finding they are leading "not very much at all".

He warns that if they don't get Brexit over the line now it'll probably never happen, and if the Tories don't start to function as a party again they'll be in more trouble than they can ever imagine.

The headlines are much the same in Europe. In Germany, Bild says "again nothing", while the Frankfurter Allgemeine reports that EU politicians were horrified by the repeated rejection of all Brexit options.

The Danish paper BT says the crisis in Parliament has now grown almost abysmal. Wyborcza in Poland calls what happened a "fiasco". While in France, Le Figaro thinks the prospect of a new election has been raised.

A writer for the Spanish paper El Pais thinks the defeat of a soft Brexit will calm the mutiny of Eurosceptics and increase support for Mrs May's deal. The Irish Times believes she could now bring her plan back to the Commons for a fourth vote.

Bum prints on the glass

"Barmy scenes" played out in the Commons yesterday, according to a writer in the Daily Mail , who describes the moment MPs were forced to compete for attention with climate change protesters - who stripped to tiny thongs and "boogie-woogied their half naked bodies" in the public gallery.

Guardian journalist said it was "rather more entertaining" and "no weirder" than anything else that happens in Parliament these days.

image copyright PA / James Heappey MP image caption Protesters in the public gallery provided a distraction for MPs in the Commons

Another writer in the "i" describes the former minister Ed Vaizey speaking at a moment of crisis, while in his line of sight police officers are taking photos of damp bum prints on the glass. "It was the most sense anything had made in months," the writer says.

Away from Brexit, Education Secretary Damian Hinds has written in the Telegraph online to explain the introduction of a register of children being home schooled. He says the government could no longer standby while "vulnerable children vanish under the radar".

The Times backs the idea. It argues there must be safeguards to ensure children acquire genuine knowledge and not neglect or indoctrination. But the NSPCC tells the Guardian that a register alone would not automatically safeguard children and says there must be regular checks.

The Mirror highlights a campaign to encourage people to donate their eyes after death, after it was revealed there was a 20% shortfall in corneas available for transplant. The paper reports a poll which found 44% of those questioned were less likely to donate their loved ones eyes than other organs.

More than half felt eyes were too personal. This compared to only 4% who were reluctant to donate a heart or lungs and 2% their kidneys or liver.

'Heart surgery for Sir Mick'

Several papers include photographs of Sir Mick Jagger appearing to enjoy a trip to the beach with his girlfriend Melanie and two year old son Deveraux, after news he needs urgent heart surgery.

The Mirror has spoken to an expert who says that in someone like Sir Mick, who is "still running around a lot" even at 75, the risks of surgery are pretty low. Under the headline "Restart Me Up" - a play on one of the Rolling Stones' hits - another doctor tells the Sun the singer should soon be "Jumpin' back to his best".

Government proposals on knife crime, which would see teachers responsible for reporting children caught up in violence, are criticised in The Times, which says there are fears that the measures will shift blame onto under-resourced public sector workers.

The Daily Mirror says Theresa May should accept her share of responsibility for the surge in knife crime after police numbers were reduced by 21,000 during her time as home secretary and prime minister. The head of the charity St Giles Trust tells the Daily Express that "with the best will in the world", parents, teachers, police and social workers can struggle to reach those at most risk.

This summer's Cricket World Cup will have a royal opener, The Times reports, after organisers secured a spot on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace for the official opening event.

Billed as a party not a ceremony, it will see music and dancing in front of a 4,000 strong audience.