What the papers say – June 16
There are differing views from the newspapers after Boris Johnson was hit by the privileges committee report.
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson and the publication of the privileges committee’s report saying he lied to Parliament dominates the front pages of Friday’s newspapers.
All but one of the national titles lead on the fallout from the report, but they have differing takes on its findings.
The Daily Mirror is in no doubt about the former prime minister with the simple headline “Liar”, while The Independent brands him “Boris the Liar”.
That theme is repeated in the Metro, which harks back to a past headline when it asks if a “proper whopper” is enough to end his career, while the i says he “lied and lied and lied”.
And the Financial Times says his “repeated lies to MP” were condemned in what it calls a “searing report”.
There remains support for Mr Johnson with the Daily Express saying he has been “hounded from Parliament” by “the most spiteful stitch-up in (the) history of politics”.
The Daily Telegraph – which is one of several titles to find room on its front page for a picture of Oscar-winning actor turned politician Glenda Jackson – says his allies in the Conservative Party have vowed to oust MPs who vote to accept the report’s findings when it is debated on Monday.
A “Tory revolt” is echoed in the Daily Mail which calls the report’s calls to effectively bar Mr Johnson from Parliament as “spiteful” and “vindictive”.
The Guardian declares “the verdict on Johnson” and says he “misled Parliament, undermined democracy” and was “complicit in abuse of MPs”.
And The Times concentrates on supporters of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and declare it the “end of the road for Johnson”.
The Daily Star, meanwhile, labels the former prime minister a “lying wazzock”.
The odd one out is The Sun which relegates Mr Johnson – and what he calls “a protracted political assassination – to a small piece alongside the masthead as it concentrates on the “sick” news that serial killer Levi Bellfield has been given permission to marry in jail.
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