Newspaper headlines: Johnson launches 'fightback' amid privacy row By BBC News

Staff Published duration 25 June 2019

image copyright Hannah McKay/Reuters

With his picture on many of the front pages for the fourth day running, the Times reports that Boris Johnson is launching a "fightback" to reassure Tory activists he's the right man to lead the party.

It says he will make five public appearances today - all heavily stage-managed - to try to dispel claims by his leadership challenger, Jeremy Hunt, that he is avoiding scrutiny.

The Guardian describes it as a "media blitz" and a firm departure from his previous "submarine" tactic of keeping out of the spotlight.

In an excoriating column for the paper , Mr Johnson's former boss at The Telegraph - Max Hastings - accuses him of cowardice, self-obsession and moral bankruptcy. "The Conservative party is about to foist a tasteless joke upon the British people", writes Hastings, "who will not find it funny for long".

The New Statesman website says the former foreign secretary has no choice but to change media strategy - after he declined to answer questions about the late-night altercation with his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, that prompted neighbours to call the police.

That refusal, according to Stephen Bush, means "another day of the row being the topic of discussion, as opposed to literally any other subject."

But the Sun says the mudslinging has already gone on for too long - and calls on the Tories to avoid a "juvenile slanging match" as the race for Number Ten intensifies.

Royal makeover

There is anger that almost £2.5m pounds of taxpayers' money has been spent renovating the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's new home.

The Mirror says even diehard royalists will blanch at the figure - which jars "in an era when working families are stuck on council waiting lists and distressed folk sleep on the streets".

Richard Kay in the Mail asks whether Harry and Meghan are giving enough back to the public in return, following what he describes as the couple's "near-farcical" measures to keep the birth of their son a secret.

But Richard Palmer in the Express says they are helping to boost the royal coffers, pointing out that their wedding last May led to a boom in paying visitors to Windsor Castle.

image copyright PA image caption Harry and Meghan moved to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor earlier this year

The Telegraph reports on concerns that hygiene myths from the 1990s have led to confusion and dangerous habits among children of that generation.

The Royal Society of Public Health blames the widely-held view at the time that rising allergy rates were the result of over-cleanliness.

Experts acknowledge that people still need to be exposed to "good" bacteria, but say it's vital we practice good hygiene in the home - particularly when preparing and eating food, playing with pets and putting out the bins.

And the Star has details of a house in the Cornish village of St Agnes that's on the market for nearly £250,000 - despite being so dilapidated no-one is allowed to go inside.