Newspaper headlines: Johnson's 'great' Brexit vow amid campaign 'scandal' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 5 July 2019

image caption The Telegraph - a paper in which Mr Johnson has a regular column - backed his bid to become prime minister in Friday's edition

Boris Johnson makes a fresh appeal to Conservative party members, on the front page of the Daily Telegraph.

In an interview with the paper, he says he will make Britain "the greatest place on Earth" if he becomes prime minister.

The Telegraph's leader column offers a full-throated endorsement of its star columnist for the top job. "Mr Johnson is Mr Brexit," the paper says - adding that he deserves a chance to realise his lifelong ambition of liberating Britain from the European Union, and restoring its faith in itself.

The Daily Mirror reports that Mr Johnson's leadership campaign has been give money by a "super-rich" family, whose property development he approved in one of his last acts as mayor of London.

The paper says the scheme was labelled unacceptable at the time, because it didn't include any social housing.

At the time, a spokesperson for Mr Johnson said the development at Millbank Tower "secures the future of a Grade II listed building" of "historical significance."

The Sun says Jeremy Hunt wants to change the law so councils and the watchdog Homes England can buy up cheap land - with the aim of building more affordable homes for young people.

Writing in the paper, Mr Hunt says the plan - called 'Right To Own' - would result in the construction of 1.5 million new homes built over the next 10 years.

The Sun's editorial says Mr Hunt has some good ideas and deserves a job in cabinet if he loses the election.

The Daily Mail leads on the discovery of a sprawling cannabis factory inside a disused police station near Oldham.

image copyright GMP image caption Failsworth police station, where the cannabis farm was discovered, closed six years ago due to budget cuts

When officers raided the building they reportedly found the culprits had fled just hours before, taking the lucrative crop with them.

Campaigners tell the paper it is a humiliation for Greater Manchester Police. The Mail says it's the most shocking and powerful symbol yet of what it calls "our surrender" in the war on drugs.

An investigation by the Times has found that landlords are making millions of pounds by housing children and vulnerable adults in tiny bedsits, squeezed into converted office blocks.

They've been exploiting a loophole in planning law that means there's no minimum size requirement, according to the paper. Some costing £800 a month are said to be barely bigger than a parking space.

Experts tell The Times it is a shameful way to house people in the 21st Century - and that developers are creating the "slums of the future".

The Guardian reports that thousands of pupils and teachers are potentially at risk from asbestos after nearly 700 schools in England failed to show they were managing the substance in line with regulations.

They're to be referred to the Health and Safety Executive for investigation, according to the results of a Freedom of Information request by the paper. Union figures tell the Guardian it's shocking indictment of the current systems of oversight.

image copyright Ministry of Defence image caption Royal Marines disembarking the Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1

The Financial Times leads on yesterday's seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by British commandos off Gibraltar - saying it could complicate efforts by the UK France and Germany to save the Iran nuclear deal.

Britain's ambassador in Tehran is said to have stressed that the operation was about enforcing sanctions on Syria - but the FT believes Iran is likely to view the seizure as the UK doing the Trump administration's bidding.

The Daily Mail says the incident has re-ignited the row with Spain about Gibraltar's sovereignty - because it happened in waters that Spain considers its own.

The government is yet to make any compensation payments to victims of the Windrush scandal, reports the Guardian - despite 15 months passing since Prime Minister Theresa May apologised and promised a financial settlement.

The paper says the law has to be changed to allow the payments to be made and that the Home Office has blamed Brexit for taking up the parliamentary time that is needed.

Senior civil servants have reportedly found an interim solution given, in their words, "the importance of putting right wrongs that have been done".

image copyright Science Photo Library image caption A virus of the common cold infected and killed bladder cancer cells in the study

The Daily Telegraph is among the papers to feature a study suggesting that a strain of the common cold virus can destroy bladder cancer cells.

University of Surrey researchers gave infusions of the bug to 15 patients with bladder cancer. Fourteen reportedly showed evidence that cells had died and in one, all signs of the disease disappeared.

The scientists tell the paper that the treatment could eventually replace chemotherapy - while charities say they're looking forward to larger trials.

And the Daily Star reports that the Ministry of Defence has launched a probe after sensitive documents from the military research site at Porton Down were found in a bin.

Thousands of pages were passed to the paper by a member of the public, who found them at a recycling spot in north London.