Newspaper headlines: 'Chaos' at Home Office and No 10 baby on way By BBC News

Staff Published duration 1 March

image copyright Getty Images/BBC image caption Tensions had been reported between Priti Patel and Sir Philip Rutnam

The resignation of the Home Office's most senior civil servant makes the front of several of Sunday's newspapers.

According to the Observer, Priti Patel's future as home secretary is being called into question following the departure of Sir Philip Rutnam.

The Sunday Times believes it leaves the government reeling at a time when the Home Office is expected to play a pivotal role in an expected coronavirus outbreak and the new points-based immigration system, due to begin next January.

The Sun on Sunday feels Sir Philip's decision to go to war with Ms Patel revealed the "breathtaking arrogance which triggered the showdown in the first place".

Allies of the home secretary claimed Sir Philip had jumped before he was pushed, the Mail on Sunday reports, calling the ex-civil servant "Sir Calamity".

In the Sunday Mirror's view, Ms Patel is a symptom of what is wrong with the government.

For Sir Philip to be driven to resign and to give up a handsome payoff, the paper argues, that "shows there is something rotten at the core of government".

The Sunday Telegraph reports that civil servants have turned on the government's most senior adviser, Sir Mark Sedwill, accusing him of going "native" after having failed publicly to back Sir Philip last week.

The resignation also prompts a debate about the role of civil servants and ministers.

The Sun argues that the government cannot be ruled by Sir Humphreys - a reference to the Yes Minister character - "employing every trick in the book to delay and frustrate those elected to enact the will of the people".

Unfortunately, says the Sunday Telegraph, Whitehall has come to regard itself as a semi-constitutional check on the executive - and that needs to change.

image copyright PA Media image caption Ms Symonds said she felt "incredibly blessed" about the engagement and baby news

There are many photographs of Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds following their announcement that she's expecting a baby and they have become engaged.

What a good day to announce a No 10 baby, says the Sunday Times.

Most of the front page of the Sunday Telegraph is devoted to the news, while the Mail on Sunday offers its readers a six-page special.

The Sun says he will become a dad for the sixth time - and the first prime minister in nearly two hundred years to marry while in office.

With the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus continuing to rise, Boris Johnson tells the Sun on Sunday that the whole world is holding its breath.

In an article for the paper, he acknowledges that people in the UK are understandably concerned.

But he concludes on an optimistic note, saying he had no doubt that with the help of the NHS, the country would get through it and beat it.

image copyright Getty Images image caption There are now 23 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK

The scale of the government's contingency preparations is becoming clear.

The Observer says the government's latest plans to tackle the virus include bringing a "Dad's Army" of former health professionals out of retirement.

The Mail on Sunday reports that Parliament could be suspended under a "secret plan" to combat the worst case scenario.

And the Sunday Telegraph says it understands ministers are planning on the basis that 2.3 million people could end up in critical care as a result of an epidemic, under a "reasonable worst case scenario".

Reporting on the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the Observer says a sense of panic was palpable in all corners of the financial system on Friday.

image copyright Getty Images image caption On Friday, markets suffered their worst week since the global financial crisis of 2008

The paper's economics editor, Phillip Inman, says city analysts were unable to give a sense of how individual economies could be affected or where stock markets might settle.

The Times says markets fear more turmoil this week after latest figures showed that China's economy suffered a record slump last month.

In the Sunday Express, the financial analyst Louise Cooper notes how the speed and scale of the collapse is comparable to the great crashes of the past, including October 1987.

Meanwhile, there is much speculation about the Budget.

The Sunday Times reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak, is planning to pay for a spending spree in the north of England by scrapping entrepreneurs' relief, which allows businesses to pay a preferential rate of tax.

The Observer suggests he will have to rethink key parts of his statement because of growing fears that the spread of coronavirus will trigger a global economic downturn.

Elsewhere, the Mail on Sunday's lead story focuses on leaked emails from a Treasury adviser, who has suggested that Britain does not need its own farming industry.

It describes the comments by Tim Leunig as "astonishing", saying they exemplify the "radical thinking within the prime minister's inner circle against bastions of the establishment".

Finally, there is a sense of shock in the sports pages after "one of the greatest unbeaten streaks" in English football, according to the Sunday Telegraph, is over.

The Sunday Mirror talks of Liverpool's air of invincibility being blown away by struggling Watford.