Newspaper headlines: Sterling slumps and Boris Johnson in Scotland By BBC News

Staff Published duration 30 July 2019

image copyright PA Media

Sterling's slump is the main story for several of Tuesday's newspapers.

The Times, the Guardian and the Financial Times say markets are becoming ever more worried by the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal in three months.

The Times says Monday's sell-off was prompted by Downing Street ruling out new Brexit talks until the EU accepted its demands to change the withdrawal agreement.

The story doesn't feature on the Daily Telegraph front page, which carries a photograph of Boris Johnson in Faslane, posing in a personalised coat with a "prime minister" label.

The accompanying report looks ahead to his visit to south Wales where it says he will promise a better deal for farmers after Brexit.

The Daily Express carries the same photo of Mr Johnson in his special coat. In its view, his refusal to meet EU leaders has "turned up the pressure" on Brussels.

The Guardian describes the prime minister's visit to Scotland on Monday as a "day of chaos" as he directly contradicted his own spokeswoman and the Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, who said the government was working on the assumption that there would be a no-deal Brexit.

Meanwhile, writing in the Daily Telegraph, the former Foreign Secretary William Hague says Boris Johnson's mission must be to leave the EU without breaking up the UK.

Mr Hague describes the dangerous combination of a rupture with Europe and a fragile Union as "the greatest of all challenges".

He urges Boris Johnson to heed the advice of the Scottish Conservative leader, Ruth Davidson, who is opposed to leaving without a deal.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mail describes as a "bombshell" Sir Richard Henriques' comments on the Metropolitan Police investigation into false child sexual abuse claims made against public figures.

In his article for the Mail, Sir Richard writes that his 2016 review of Operation Midland found that search warrants were obtained unlawfully - a conclusion that hasn't been publicly disclosed before.

The former High Court judge says that the course of justice was perverted with "shocking consequences", and calls for a criminal investigation.

Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the accountancy firm, Grant Thornton, has told regulators it intends to quit as Sports Direct's auditor.

It says the company made the decision after the retailer disclosed a multi-million pound tax bill just hours before the annual accounts were due to be signed off.

image copyright PA image caption Alastair Campbell - No 10's former head of communications - says he is leaving Labour

The Guardian reveals that Tony Blair's former director of communications, Alastair Campbell, is leaving the Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Mr Campbell had planned to fight his expulsion for voting Liberal Democrat in the last European Parliament elections.

But in an open letter to Mr Corbyn, he says the Labour leader is poised to lose the next general election and destroy the party "as a political force capable of winning power".

According to an investigation by the Sun, Amazon staff eavesdrop - via the company's Alexa smart speakers - on customers arguing, discussing private matters or having sex.

The speakers make recordings when users talk to them, but can be triggered by other noises.

The Sun has discovered an Amazon team based in Romania which listens to thousands of recordings to monitor the system. Amazon says staff cannot identify the customers and it takes privacy seriously.

"Alexa! Stop being a perv" is the Sun's headline.

image copyright Amazon image caption The Amazon Echo is just one of various types of smart speaker

The Times highlights what it calls dubious pieces of health advice shared on Facebook which have been rated as "false" by the network's new fact-checkers. "Fake news is bad for your health" reads the headline.

One such post encourages heart attack victims to cough vigorously until help arrives.

The British Heart Foundation says there is no evidence to suggest that would help - but the claim remains live on Facebook, one of 59 given a "false" rating by fact-checkers.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror leads with the revelation that the prime minister's new spin doctor, Lee Cain, was the Mirror reporter who dressed up in a chicken costume to taunt senior Conservatives during the general election in 2010.

A former colleague hails him as "a great Mirror Chicken" who attacked the role with "real zeal and great passion".

The paper says Mr Cain's subsequent work on the Vote Leave campaign and at the Foreign Office has seen him "rise up the pecking order", and he now "squawks the corridors of power".

Cathedral crazy golf

Finally, Rochester Cathedral in Kent has made headlines for installing a temporary summer attraction: a crazy golf course in the nave.

The nine holes each feature a model bridge, and the Reverend Rachel Phillips tells the Mail the hope is that visitors will reflect on the bridges they need build in their own lives.

Views so far are decidedly mixed. In the Telegraph, Tim Stanley describes the new course as an act of desecration.

But the Sun sees the funny side, calling it the "fairway to heaven".