Newspaper headlines: Here come the 'Novichumps' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 5 October 2018

image copyright AFP/DUTCH DEFENCE MINISTRY

Most papers lead with the alleged attempt by Russian agents to infiltrate the international chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague - while it was investigating the Salisbury poisonings.

For the Sun, it's "The Novichockle Brothers" . It says Vladimir Putin's spies are a global laughing stock after a bungled bid to sabotage the Salisbury novichok investigation was exposed.

The Times says the men were "caught in the act" . The paper says Mr Putin will be beside himself at the incompetence revealed by the bungled cyber attack in the Netherlands.

The Financial Times says the accusations made in Washington and The Hague underline the extent to which alarm is rising in many allied capitals at the scope of alleged Russian cyber espionage against the West.

For the Daily Mail , this was a risibly ham-fisted affair - more Johnny English than George Smiley. But their ineptitude on this occasion should not detract from the threat they and their comrades in Russia's GRU intelligence agency pose to the West, the paper warns.

Make no mistake, it says - they are engaged in all-out war.

image copyright AFP, Dutch Defence Ministry image caption Phones and a camera seized from GRU suspects by the Dutch authorities

Can there be anyone left in the country who is in any doubt that Russia represents the gravest threat that it has done since the days of the Cold War? the Daily Express asks.

A current member of the team tells the paper: "It was widely known that he was one of those guys, some sort of government agent. He was a normal guy, nothing crazy."

The Spectator website says the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, brought Theresa May back down to earth following her Tory conference speech - with an unhelpful tweet saying the EU had always been happy to offer the UK a Canada-style Brexit deal.

image copyright Getty Images

Could the prime minister have been any clearer over the Irish border question? the paper asks.

According to the Financial Times, London's ultra-rich are moving their assets out of the UK - and some are preparing to leave - as their concerns over a left-wing government led by Jeremy Corbyn intensify.

It says multi-millionaires are setting up off-shore investment accounts or shifting the location of UK-registered trusts holding their wealth, in anticipation of higher tax rates and potential capital controls if Labour takes power.

Concerns have mounted recently as plans for an orderly Brexit appear shakier, increasing fears of a general election which Labour could win, the paper adds.

Several papers report that scientists have concluded that vitamin D supplements make no difference to the risk of broken bones or bone density.