Newspaper headlines: Kyle show 'on trial' or 'not to blame'? By BBC News

Staff Published duration 15 May 2019

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The controversy over the Jeremy Kyle Show is the lead for several of the papers.

The son of the 62-year-old man found dead days after failing a lie-detector test on the programme tells the Daily Mail the presenter had "ripped into him" on stage

The Sun says Jeremy Kyle fears ITV bosses will make him a scapegoat amid growing calls for the show to be axed. It has the headline: "Kyle on trial."

The Spectator website says the shouting and screaming and fractious arguments presented for our titillation have been a concern for some time.

It adds that our desire for reality TV has led us down a dark and twisted path where a programme on which contestants are mocked by viewers based on their class, background and appearance remains such a huge draw.

There are many accounts of the treatment of guests who have appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show. One tells the Guardian his appearance was "the worst thing that has ever happened in my life"

A TV producer hired to film behind the scenes tells the Daily Mirror : "It was distressing to see so many worlds torn apart and so little done to mend them afterwards." ITV has said participants are supported by the guest welfare team throughout filming and in the days afterwards.

Few believe the show can survive. The Daily Mirror describes the programme as "toxic telly", and says television bosses must think carefully about what happens next.

Brexit vote

Downing Street's announcement that the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill is to be brought to the Commons next month is widely reported.

The Telegraph says Mrs May has tried to delay her resignation for almost three months by telling ministers she can get a deal done if she's allowed to stay in Number 10 until the end of July.

The announcement comes as a surprise to some. The Politico website says that with nothing yet agreed in the talks with Labour, and large factions in both main parties implacably opposed to the Brexit deal, it remains unclear how Mrs May hopes to win a Commons majority

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The LabourList website thinks that relying on either Conservative or Labour votes in the Commons is unlikely to produce a positive outcome for her

The Sun reports that the prime minister came under heavy pressure from her "frustrated" cabinet to bring the bill forward.

The Politics Home website says she will hope the move will be enough to satisfy Tory MPs demanding that she sets out a timetable for her departure from Number 10.

The pledge by new Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt to introduce an amnesty on historical prosecutions for military veterans makes the lead for the Guardian and the Express

The amnesty will not apply to legacy cases arising in Northern Ireland, with the Telegraph quoting sources who suggest that the political tensions there have made the issue too difficult to resolve.

The Times leads with a warning by the leader of Britain's police chiefs to Theresa May that anti-terrorist operations would be hampered if she bows to pressure to create an official definition of Islamophobia.

The paper says the adoption of the definition could in effect make it racist to criticise Islam or "Muslimness".

In a letter to the Prime Minister seen by the Times, Martin Hewitt - chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council - says the definition poses a threat to terror laws, stop-and-search at ports and the outlawing of terrorist groups.

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Finally, the Guardian reports that cubs and scouts are marching back into inner cities , with membership boosted by 20,000 in some of the most deprived parts of Britain over the past five years.

It says the recruitment is part of a concerted drive by the scouts to widen their appeal and defeat a stereotype that scouting is only for white, middle-class people.