Newspaper headlines: Labour at 'war' and PM's 'blueprint for Britain' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 16 December 2019

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In Monday's paper, the battle for the heart and soul of the Labour party is the main story for the Guardian.

It says the party has become engulfed in a row about whether its Brexit position or its leadership was mainly to blame for its disastrous showing at the general election.

It points out that with the party not due to elect a new leader until the end of March, Jeremy Corbyn will continue to face Boris Johnson in the Commons for more than three months.

The infighting which has broken out in the party following the election is also the lead for the Daily Telegraph.

The paper focuses on the row involving one of the possible leadership contenders , Emily Thornberry, who has vehemently denied a claim that she called voters in one leave-voting constituency "stupid".

Mr Johnson will put control of Britain's borders, improvements to the NHS and investment in the North of England at the centre of his government's new strategy , according to the Daily Mail.

It says he is considering splitting up the Home Office to create a new Department for Borders and Immigration in order to deliver on his promise to introduce a points-based immigration system.

The Times reports that the prime minister's most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, is to overhaul the way the Ministry of Defence spends its money - in a move expected to alarm military chiefs and civil servants.

The paper says he is expected to audit recent purchases of military equipment, having previously described the MoD procurement process as "disastrous".

Alongside the MoD, the paper says the operations of the Foreign Office and security services will be subject to intense examination.

The UK's most senior civil servant, cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill, is to stay on in Downing Street to oversee a "far reaching shake-up" of the government machine, according to the Financial Times.

It says Mr Johnson wants to overhaul Whitehall bureaucracy to help develop a post-Brexit economy focused on boosting northern England.

The FT leads with the failure of the UN climate change talks to agree new rules on carbon trading.

The paper says the negotiations in Madrid broke up in acrimony leaving international efforts to address global warming in limbo.

Over two pages, the i newspaper produces what it calls "your Conservative Party check list".

It features more than forty election pledges, enabling readers to tick off which ones are met or missed over the course of the next parliament.

The Daily Express splashes with what it calls Boris's "war with the BBC" . It says relations with the broadcaster were strained to the limit during the election after concerns about the corporation's coverage of the campaign.

The Sun's main story is the theft of more than £50m worth of jewellery from the London home of Bernie Ecclestone's daughter, Tamara.

It says three burglars broke into the property, evading 24-hour security, and took just 50 minutes to steal every piece of jewellery from safes hidden in her bedroom.

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Most of the papers carry a photograph of a smiling Ben Stokes after he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.

Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Reading have confirmed that the old adage - an apple a day keeps the doctor away - is nearly right.

According to the Times, they found that two apples rather than just one eaten every day can help keep cholesterol down and lower the risk of heart disease.

One of the researchers said the study goes to show how a simple and easy change to our diet can have a crucial impact on our health.

And finally, a new exhibition at the British Museum reveals that the single-use, disposable cup is nothing new.

The Minoans were busy making them out of clay, three and a half thousand years ago, and used them for drinking wine.