Newspaper headlines: Gove's 'cocaine confession' and Colman's CBE By BBC News

Staff Published duration 8 June 2019

image copyright Peter Summers/Getty Images

"My cocaine confession" is the headline in the Daily Mail, which leads with Michael Gove's admission that he took the drug several times more than 20 years ago. The environment secretary's cocaine use was about to emerge in a book, extracts of which are published in the Mail.

The Mail reveals that Mr Gove owned up to using cocaine in a conversation with advisers during the race to replace David Cameron in 2016.

The Sun also leads on this story, describing it as a "bombshell" which threatens to overshadow the launch of his campaign to become prime minister.

Many of the papers chew over the lessons of the Peterborough by-election.

For the Mail, the message is clear: "Wake up," its editorial urges, "or Corbyn will sneak into power!". It says the Brexit Party split the Tory vote, allowing Labour to come through the middle.

The Sun agrees, as does the Telegraph, which says the Conservatives face a fight for survival and the only way to stop this is for the new prime minister to lead Britain out of the EU.

image copyright PA image caption Labour's Lisa Forbes won the seat in the Peterborough by-election by a narrow margin of 683 votes

The Mirror says Labour's victory is remarkable, brought about by talking about issues which matter on the doorstep.

According to the Times , a fresh anti-Semitism row has engulfed the Labour party with its newest MP, Lisa Forbes, facing a call to be suspended just hours after she won the by-election.

The controversy arose because Ms Forbes liked a Facebook post which said Theresa May had a "Zionist slave masters agenda". She denies anti-Semitism but apologised saying that she hadn't read the text which had accompanied the posts.

image copyright PA image caption Olivia Colman was one of more than 1,000 people to be recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list

The beaming face of the actor, Olivia Colman, is found in several papers after she was appointed a CBE.

"The Queen's honour... for the Queen" is how the Mail's headline puts it, with the actor soon to star as the monarch in the TV series, The Crown.

The i highlights the MBEs for 15 foster carers who have looked after more than 1,000 children between them during decades of quietly selfless work.

In its lead, the Guardian says Oxbridge's ancient grip on the top of the British university ladder has been broken by St Andrews

The latest edition of the paper's university guide continues to put Cambridge first, but Scotland's oldest university has pushed Oxford into third place. The Guardian puts the rise of St Andrews down to high levels of contentment among its students.

image copyright YouTube image caption Neil Woodford has apologised after suspending trading in his largest fund

The Financial Times leads with the problems surrounding one of the UK's best-known fund managers. Neil Woodford blocked withdrawals from his flagship £3.7bn fund on Monday because Kent County Council had wanted to withdraw its money.

According to the FT, since then Mr Woodford has sold or transferred close to £600m of stock. The paper describes this as a "scramble to raise cash" ahead of the fund reopening. But the stockpicker has categorically rejected the idea that he's engaged in a "fire-sale", insisting that he's repositioning his portfolio.

The Times has the story of a sculptor, Emily Young, who is making giant heads out of marble worth hundreds of thousands of pounds before dropping them off the Tuscan coast. The reason - she's trying to thwart the illegal trawlers who scoop up fish on the sea floor, leaving it barren.

The sculptor explains the boats' nets get snagged on her artworks and then can't be used - and the artworks themselves have become home to coral, starfish and crabs.