Newspaper headlines: Papers focus on reports of Johnson row at home By BBC News

Staff Published duration 22 June 2019

image copyright Getty Images

Photographs of Boris Johnson and his girlfriend dominate the front pages, after their neighbour called police to report a noisy argument between the couple.

According to The Sun , the former mayor of London's bid to become prime minister is "in chaos" following the incident, which the paper describes as "a blazing row".

The deputy political editor of the Daily Express, Sam Lister, says this morning's headlines are the sort of upset Mr Johnson's team have been desperate to avoid and will underline demands from opponents that he should face rigorous scrutiny.

"Mr Johnson will now need to ditch his policy of avoiding tough questioning and come out into the open", he writes, "if he is to have a chance of keeping his leadership bid alive".

'Suitability to lead'

The paper's editorial calls on the former foreign secretary to "get his house in order" and understand that running for the highest office in the land "is a serious business".

The Times says the revelations have "reignited concerns about Mr Johnson's suitability to lead the country", but admits it is "far from clear" how the latest turbulence in his private life will play with Conservative party members "who have so far shown little inclination to condemn his moral frailties".

image copyright Reuters

The paper also highlights President Trump's claim that he stopped an attack on Iranian targets with ten minutes to go, after being told the airstrikes could kill 150 people.

The paper says Mr Trump's tweets show how close the world may have come to a Middle East conflagration, and "raise questions as to why he was told so late about the predicted loss of life".

The Guardian's world affairs editor, Julian Borger, argues that with hawks in the White House, "this will not be the last time that the US gets so close to conflict".

Wildfires 'new normal'

A warning that wildfires are becoming "normal" in the UK is featured by the Daily Telegraph

It says analysis by the London School of Economics shows there have been 134 recorded wildfires so far this year, compared to 79 in the whole of 2018 and just 19 in 2017.

image copyright Reuters image caption Marsden Moor, West Yorkshire, saw wildfires in February this year

Scientists have told the paper fires will strike more frequently due to longer dry spells prompted by global warming.

It says people living in the countryside or on the edge of towns could be forced to organise their gardens to limit the risk of fire to their houses, in the same way homeowners do in southern Europe.

Seagulls 'keeping hostages'

With the headline, "Seagulls held us hostage for six days", the Daily Star is one of several papers to report how Roy and Brenda Pickard were unable to leave their home in Lancashire because a pair of nesting birds attacked them every time they did so.

According to the Daily Mirror , the gulls were protecting two chicks which had slipped down the roof onto a canopy above the front door.