Newspaper headlines: Johnson's 'do or die' Brexit pledge By BBC News

Staff Published duration 26 June 2019

Boris Johnson once again dominates the morning papers, with one phrase proving particularly irresistible to the editors.

Taken from Mr Johnson's interview with Talk Radio, it refers to his pledge to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October "come what may", if he becomes the next prime minister.

image copyright Reuters image caption Mr Johnson undertook a series of media and public appearances on Tuesday, after being accused of avoiding scrutiny

The Times says his stance has been "met with dismay" in Brussels, with one diplomat telling the paper that his plans were "divorced from reality".

The Daily Express says Mr Johnson's "bold Brexit pledge" amounts to him "putting his political career on the line".

The Independent website brings us the reaction of Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, who says that by tying himself to that date, Mr Johnson was like an escapologist who has "put on a straitjacket, padlocked the door and started the tap running".

The Telegraph warns that his Brexit pledges need to be followed through.

'National crisis'

The Telegraph reports that hundreds of rural villages have lost their GP surgeries. The paper's own investigation reveals the number of families living more than an hour away from their nearest GP has gone up by 40% in two years.

The paper calls it "a national crisis that needs to be urgently addressed".

The Mail front page headline claims doctors are saying it is racist to charge foreign nationals for using the NHS.

It comes after delegates at the British Medical Association's annual conference voted to back a motion that said charging visitors from other countries made medical staff "complicit in racism".

The paper says the doctors union will now lobby the Department of Health on the issue.

The Guardian says the existing rules have been criticised for stopping undocumented migrants from accessing the medical care they need because they could not pay the fees in advance - the paper says some of those denied care have died.

The Mail's editorial says changing the rules would let "health tourists exploit our system" and argues that Britain's national health service cannot afford to become an international one.

Under the headline "Hell is coming", the Independent website reports that a potentially dangerous heatwave is set to shatter records across Europe.

It says temperatures are expected to climb above 40C in parts of France, Germany, Spain and Italy, as hot winds from the Sahara blow in across the continent.

A French meteorologist has told Le Parisien newspaper the temperatures could feel more like a "terrible 47C" due to humidity.

The German newspaper Bild is urging its readers to have a siesta during the early afternoons, and to put their pyjamas in the freezer to keep cool at night.

Here, the Mail says revellers who were greeted by muddy puddles when they arrived at Glastonbury Festival can now look forward to wall-to-wall sunshine, with temperatures expected to top 27C by Friday.

image copyright EPA image caption In Madrid children cooled off in a fountain

It may have been just an everyday story of country folk, but it seems The Archers may have actually been a tool of government control.

The Telegraph reports that Graham Harvey, who helped write hundreds of episodes, has admitted Radio 4's long-running soap tricked farmers in the 1950s into adopting modern farming methods.