Newspaper headlines: Fracking ban and England rugby heroes By BBC News

Staff Published duration 2 November 2019

There is a consensus in the papers that Nigel Farage's warning that his Brexit Party will stand in every seat unless Boris Johnson scraps his Brexit deal is not good news for the Conservatives.

The Times thinks it risks splitting the Leave vote, making the prime minister's electoral challenge more difficult.

The Daily Mail says the Tories have gone to war with Mr Farage after he threatened to wreck their election hopes.

In its editorial, the paper feels he has overreached - and urges Mr Farage and his hardliners to dilute their ideological purity and embrace pragmatism.

The Daily Express takes up the theme, saying the Brexit Party leader has won his place in history, but his time is up.

The Sun calls on Mr Farage and his voters to think again , because his stance is far more likely to prevent Mr Johnson winning the majority which is vital to delivering Brexit.

The Daily Mirror accuses him of indulging in a cheap publicity stunt that could spell trouble for both Labour and the Conservatives.

But, writing in the Daily Telegraph , Mr Farage defends his approach, saying that if his party is the only one willing to stand up for a proper Brexit, then so be it.

The Daily Telegraph focuses on the general election campaign, saying the Tories are preparing to launch a manifesto that will commit them to tax cuts

Elsewhere, the columnist and former Conservative MP, Matthew Parris, uses his weekly column in the Times to announce that he is leaving the Conservative party after 50 years

He says he finds himself unwilling to support a leader who - he says - is a stranger to honesty or principle, and who surfs a foolish populist wave for the sake of ambition alone.

The time has arrived, he argues, to give up hoping for a return to Tory sanity, saying although he is not a Liberal Democrat, he will unhesitatingly vote for them on 12 December to "defeat Tory zealotry over Europe".

With the general election under way here and the US Presidential election a year away, the FT concludes the stakes are exceptionally high.

The Guardian expresses concern that Facebook's power over what users see gives it potential for immense influence on politics . The paper suggests that forcing Facebook to reveal where parties are spending campaign cash and enforcing constituency spending limits would be a start.

The papers also focus on the government's announcement that fracking will be banned.

The i sees the decision as a U-turn and a huge victory for green campaigners.

And finally, there's much excitement about the Rugby World Cup final.

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The Daily Mirror suggests England, who meet South Africa on Saturday, stand on the brink of sporting immortality

The Times suggests an England victory would lift the nation's spirits at a time when it needs a distraction.