Newspaper headlines: 'Johnson's day of reckoning' as MPs vote on deal By BBC News

Staff Published duration 19 October 2019

"Johnson edges towards victory", says the headline in the Daily Telegraph, which believes the prime minister is "within touching distance" of getting Parliament to support his Brexit deal today.

It estimates Boris Johnson has secured 319 of the 320 Commons votes he needs for his new withdrawal agreement - with 312 MPs against and around eight undecided.

The paper reckons 11 Labour MPs have now indicated they will back the deal, cancelling out the 10 DUP MPs set to reject it.

In a warning to those Labour MPs, Matthew Parris in the Times writes that they risk becoming "Brexit's useful idiots".

He argues "getting the deal over the line will allow Tory ideologists to create their vision of a stripped-down and deregulated state" - with fewer impediments to what he says Brexiteers see as "the animal spirits of a free-market economy".

It says "all MPs must put aside self-interest now", and that Mr Johnson's deal is a "clever compromise" around which they can unite.

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The Daily Mail features an opinion poll that suggests 50% of the public believe MPs should vote for the deal, compared with 38% who say they shouldn't.

The poll was carried out by Survation, which interviewed more than 1,000 people online.

The Financial Times focuses on what it calls the "fresh hurdle" before Mr Johnson - the amendment tabled by MP Sir Oliver Letwin, calling for a further Brexit extension.

The FT says his amendment, to withhold parliamentary approval until all the legislation to implement Brexit has been approved, threatens to derail the PM's deal.

Sir Oliver insists his amendment, which the Mail terms "The Letwin Plot", is simply an "insurance policy" against no-deal by accident.

The Times is more concerned about the Gunpowder Plot - and continuing to commemorate it.

It quotes the charity, Combat Stress, which warns fireworks can be a source of anxiety for war veterans, because of the similarity between explosions and gunfire.

It says they can learn to tolerate fireworks "by focusing on the differences".

And finally, the Sun talks up Saturday night TV.

Italy's Graziano Di Prima and South African's Johannes Radebe will perform a "romantic one-on-one number, to Emeli Sande's "Shine".

The Sun says it will be "a landmark moment", paving the way for a same-sex couple to enter the BBC show next year.