Newspaper headlines: Who's putting Boris Johnson in the corner? By BBC News

Staff Published duration 5 September 2019

image copyright Reuters image caption The Financial Times describes Boris Johnson's defeats in the Commons as "humbling"

Many of the front pages - including the Guardian, the Financial Times and the i newspaper - describe Mr Johnson as being "cornered".

The Financial Times talks of "humbling" defeats for the prime minister as well as "growing anger" among Tory MPs about his handling of Brexit.

For the Times , he faces an increasingly desperate battle to force an election, with his enemies plotting to trap him in office but without power.

Yet writing inside , Jenni Russel argues that even though No 10 may not have foreseen the scale and the seriousness of the Conservative rebellion, Downing Street's strategy may still be on course.

She thinks the calculation is that voters in swing towns won't care about the absence of the likes of Ken Clarke - and that Jeremy Corbyn will not be able to resist the appeal of a general election for long.

The Sun superimposes the face of Jeremy Corbyn onto the body of a rooster and asks: "Is this the most dangerous chicken in Britain?"

The paper's associate editor, Camilla Tominey, describes Mr Corbyn as "the campaigning veteran of the loud hailer" and says that in reality, he relishes the idea of going back to the polls.

She thinks "It is the Brussels-loving Blairites in his party who are flapping like battery hens in their bid to block Brexit and force a second referendum."

The Daily Mirror agrees that some senior Labour figures prefer the idea of allowing Mr Johnson to "limp on" - believing he would be politically damaged if he were unable to deliver Brexit by Halloween.