Newspaper headlines: May is 'hopeless and weak' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 9 September 2017

image copyright PA

The Times highlights an attack on Theresa May as "hopeless and weak" by Conservative party donor Lord Harris of Peckham.

In an interview with the paper, Lord Harris says the prime minister's administration is mishandling Brexit and he would prefer a "strong Labour government" led by a figure such as Tony Blair.

He also criticises Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson as "lazy", and adds that Environment Secretary Michael Gove has "no personality".

In its leading article , the Times complains of "paralysis" in Downing Street and describes Mrs May as a "caretaker adrift".

Nevertheless, it urges her to stay on and face down factions in her own party who it says are exploiting her weakness in Parliament to pursue their own narrow interests.

The prime minister's declaration of admiration for Geoffrey Boycott catches the attention of the Guardian, which points out that the famously obdurate cricketer was eventually sacked as Yorkshire captain amid an acrimonious dressing room revolt.

It also notes that the team won nothing during Boycott's time in charge, and that he once scored so slowly during his brief spell as England captain that Ian Botham was sent on deliberately to get him run out.

It says those affected are British passport holders - no different to citizens of the Falklands or Gibraltar - and the UK should care for all of them.

The Telegraph thinks the situation "smacked of a government distracted" by Brexit.

It says the foreign aid budget could be saving lives in the Caribbean instead of being used on "pointless development projects".

image copyright AFP/MoD

It says the victims of the bombing in May must never be forgotten but nor should "crazed jihadists" be allowed to destroy our way of life.

In the Mirror's view, the Manchester Arena, like the Bataclan in Paris, will become a symbol of defiance against what it calls "miserable fanaticism".

According to the Daily Mail , ministers are considering plans to raise on-the-spot fines for littering from a maximum of £80 to £150.

For those who pay late, the penalty could increase to £300.

Councils have been pressing for the change and for the freedom to spend the proceeds as they wish - raising fears, says the Mail, that they will use litter patrols as cash cows.

The Sun and the Mirror both have the story of a woman who appears to have vanished with thousands of pounds after offering to arrange her fiance's stag party in Ibiza.

The jilted groom discovered what had happened only when he arrived at Leeds airport with 30 friends and found their flight tickets were fake and their hotel had no record of a booking.

He apparently headed to a local pub to drown his sorrows.

His fiancee's whereabouts is unclear.