Newspaper headlines: Brexit 'war footing' and 'the sacked one' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 19 December 2018

image copyright Getty Images

"Now it's no-deal mayhem" is the headline for the Daily Mail, which says Britain has been placed on alert with more than 3,000 troops on standby.

Its editorial calls for an outbreak of common sense in Brussels and Westminster to bring about the redemption of Theresa May's Brexit agreement. Otherwise, the Mail says, Project Fear could soon become Project Here.

The Guardian focuses on the call to prevent a no-deal Brexit from leading employers' groups . The paper believes their statement will strengthen Downing Street's case that MPs must accept the prime minister's deal or face chaos in the new year.

The Daily Telegraph leads on a call from the former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab for businesses to be given tax breaks to help them weather a no-deal Brexit

In an article for the paper, Mr Raab suggests offsetting the cost with the £39 billion the UK would no longer have to pay the EU.

The sacked Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is pictured across the front pages, being driven away from the luxury hotel where he's been living for the past two-and-a-half years.

image copyright Reuters

Simon Kuper in the Financial Times focuses on his shortcomings on the pitch . Mourinho's penchant for picking well-built bruisers, he says, has become outdated in an increasingly mobile age.

He concludes that "the special one" has proven an ancient footballing rule that pioneers are always surpassed later on.

The Mirror believes the BBC may not be able to afford the annual £720m bill to cover licences for the over-75s, after it was handed the responsibility for funding them by the government.

The Commons standards watchdog tells the paper that it is within the rules for MPs to claim free TV licences for their constituency offices, but campaigners say pensioners will be furious about what they see as blatant hypocrisy.

The largest donation in the Trump Foundation's history - more than a quarter of a million dollars - reportedly went towards restoring a fountain outside Mr Trump's Plaza Hotel in New York.