Newspaper headlines: Big freeze and Brexit 'compromise' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 5 February 2018

After a weekend of accusations of Tory divisions over the direction of Brexit, the papers claim a compromise could come this week.

The paper reports the idea would involve a time-limited extension to elements of the union.

It says some in Downing Street believe this would be more attractive to Michael Gove than Boris Johnson and would drive a wedge between them.

The Times quotes a senior unnamed government source saying that No 10 is prepared to play the pair off against each other and "do what any good leader does: divide and rule".

That's how the "i" sees it too - it talks of Mrs May trying to "sooth hardliners" after a weekend of leadership plots and confusion, with ministers backing different outcomes on television.

The Sun says no-one really knows what Theresa May wants a post-Brexit Britain to look like. She must show leadership when her cabinet meets this week, the paper says, adding that it's "time to show your cards, PM".

True leaders are admired, revered and even feared, says the Daily Mirror, but Mrs May is utterly damned when voters start feeling sorry for her.

In private, it says, they realise that there are dangers to toppling her that are likely to outstrip the dangers to Brexit of keeping her in power.

The Daily Express says the PM has repeatedly insisted that Brexit means Brexit and so the cabinet must unite behind her without delay.

'Secrecy in Westminster'

Freemasons' lodges for MPs and journalists continue to operate secretly in Westminster , claims the Guardian.

It says the identities of the members of all three lodges are unknown outside Freemasonry.

The paper reports the MPs and peers group, known as New Welcome Lodge, is so discreet that few members of the journalists' group Gallery Lodge seem to be aware of it.

The chief executive of the United Grand Lodge of England and Wales tells the paper that, contrary to populist perception, being a Freemason helps those involved to act as better people and is a "positive" to society.

More Freemasons would declare their membership, he says, if they did not fear prejudice and discrimination.

image copyright AFP/Getty Images image caption Heavy snow is affecting Russia with some papers claiming its a record white-out

Meanwhile, the UK is bracing itself for what the Daily Mirror calls "the coldest week of the winter".

Britain's braced for snow and ice chaos every day, it says, as temperatures plummet to -14C.

According to the Daily Express, a killer "Scandinavian freeze" is about to "grip the nation".

But we're not the only ones in the grip of a cold snap. Over the channel, Le Figaro warns the mercury will drop significantly in the next few days.

It has a map showing a big chunk of south-east France on alert for snowfall.

Le Monde quotes the French met office calling for vigilance as a "snow episode" spreads from the south to the north.

In Russia, a record whiteout in Moscow is described by Izvestia as "the snowfall of the century". "Fans of snow have waited a long time for this winter," it says.

Moscow Pravda has pictures of ploughs battling to keep city roads clear as more snow and sleet fall onto the bustling streets.