Speculation about the prime minister's future dominates most of Friday's front pages.
Under the headline All We Want For Christmas Is A New PM, the Daily Mirror quotes one MP as saying Theresa May is "like a pet waiting to be put down".
A former Cabinet minister tells the i:
'It's not terminal yet, but she is in intensive care", while former
cabinet minister David Mellor tells The Daily Telegraph Mrs May is a "dead woman walking".
Home Secretary Amber Rudd writes in the same paper that Mrs May should remain as leader at what she calls "a turning point for the nation". The Times says government whips will canvass Tory MPs over the weekend.
The Financial Times reports that Chancellor Philip Hammond is facing a "bloodbath" in the public finances in next month's Budget, because official growth forecasts have been too optimistic.
The
Office for Budget Responsibility is said to have overestimated
productivity for the past seven years - meaning much of the £26bn set
aside to help the economy through Brexit could be "wiped out".
The Sun seizes on the "bloodbath" theme, employing the headline "Hamma Horror". It says the warning "will stoke fears the chancellor will be forced to push through stinging tax rises". The papers are divided in their opinion of the investigation into allegations against Sir Edward Heath.
The Guardian believes the police have a duty to examine any potential abuse of power and the Daily Express agrees that "it can deliver closure for victims and help them access compensation", even if the supposed perpetrator is dead.
But a leading criminologist brought on to the case last year writes in The Times that it was a shambles, based on "a catalogue of fabrication".
The paper's editorial says it's hard to argue with claims the Wiltshire force was "appealing to fantasists and attention-seekers". Boris Becker's financial woes
are detailed on the front of The Times. It says the former tennis
champion borrowed £2m from John Caudwell, the billionaire co-founder of
Phones 4U, after he was warned that he could be jailed as his debts
reached £50m.
The money, it says, "enabled him to juggle the
demands of banks, an ex-wife and lover and business partners while
maintaining his jet-set lifestyle". Image copyrightPAImage caption
Jamie Oliver's specially designed Land Rover has a
host of cooking features including a slow-cooker, barbecue, and olive
oil dispenser
The Daily Mail reveals how Jamie Oliver has paid £100,000 to turn his Land Rover into a mobile kitchen.
The
custom-built car, it says, features a rotisserie, pasta maker, slow
cooker, wheel-mounted butter and ice cream churners and a toaster wedged
between the front seats.
And the Sun features a landlord in Bristol who may have been inspired by Alan Bennett, by advertising for a tenant to live in a van parked on his street.
The
vehicle is described as having "all the facilities for winter living"
including a wood burner, oven and double bed - but the paper says it is
untaxed and could be towed away.
Originally published on http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-41520152
A father has lost a damages claim against a London IVF clinic after his ex-partner forged his signature to use frozen embryos.
The High Court found IVF Hammersmith was not negligent.
The couple broke up in 2010 but some months later the woman asked the clinic to implant an embryo, which they had stored.
The man, who can only be identified as ARB, said he only found out she was pregnant via a text message from her.
The
couple had a son together through IVF at the clinic in 2008. A number
of embryos had been frozen and they signed agreements annually for these
to remain in storage.
In October 2010, the mother handed IVF
Hammersmith a 'consent to thaw' form, forged with ARB's signature. On
the basis of this document, an embryo was thawed and successfully
implanted.
The presiding judge Mr Justice Jay said: "Although he
has lost this case, my judgment must be seen as a complete personal and
moral vindication for ARB."
"The same, of course, cannot be said for R." R is being used to identify the mother in the case.
'Unwanted child'
Jude Fleming of IVF Hammersmith welcomed the finding: "As a clinic, we place patient care at the heart of everything we do.
"We
have been clear throughout that we have always adhered to the highest
industry standards and met all statutory and regulatory obligations."
The father said his ex-partner's dishonesty resulted in the birth of his daughter, an "unwanted child".
He
argued that the clinic should pay for the cost of her upbringing,
including private school fees, holidays, refurbishing her bedroom and
her wedding.
Afterwards, he said: "This claim has never been about money; it is about justice."
He plans to appeal the decision regarding damages in the Supreme Court.
Originally published on http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41525215
Former Tory Party chairman Grant Shapps has said he believes Theresa May should face a leadership election.
Mr
Shapps told the BBC he had the backing of about 30 MPs, including five
former cabinet ministers, adding: "I don't think we can go on like
this."
There has been leadership speculation since the snap general election, in which the Tories lost their majority.
Cabinet ministers have been rallying around Mrs May since her conference speech was beset by mishaps this week.
It was meant to be a chance to assert her authority over the party after the general election that saw her party lose MPs.
Laura Kuenssberg: Doubts are now out in open
Tories rally round May after speech woes
PM struggles through interrupted speech
Laura Kuenssberg: What now for May?
But it was plagued by a series of mishaps, as she struggled with
a persistent cough, was interrupted by a prankster and some of the
letters fell off the conference stage backdrop behind her.
Environment
Secretary Michael Gove was among those publicly defending her on Friday
morning, as the story broke that Mr Shapps was the senior Tory behind a
bid to persuade Mrs May to go.
Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4 the prime
minister was a "fantastic" leader, had widespread support, and should
stay "as long as she wants". He said that the "overwhelming majority of
MPs and the entirety of the cabinet" backed the prime minister.
Media captionThe "overwhelming majority of MPs" support the prime minister, says environment secretary Michael Gove"She has been an excellent prime minister and I hope she
carries on as prime minister for years to come," he said, adding that
"refuelling leadership speculation was...one of the most boring stories
in politics".
A total of 48 MPs would need to write to the
chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench Tories in order to trigger a
leadership contest.
Mr Shapps, who was co-chair of the party
between 2012 and 2015, said no letter had been sent and said his
intention had been to gather signatures privately and persuade Mrs May
to stand down.
But he claimed party whips had taken the
"extraordinary" step of making it public by naming him as the ringleader
of a plot to oust the PM in a story in the Times.
He told the
BBC: "I think it's time we actually tackle this issue of leadership and
so do many colleagues. We wanted to present that to Theresa May
privately. Now I'm afraid it's being done a bit more publicly."
He
added: "The country needs leadership. It needs leadership at this time
in particular. I think the conference and the lead up through the summer
has shown that that's not going to happen. I think it's time that we
have a leadership election now, or at least let's set out that
timetable."
Something has changed - Laura Kuenssberg's view
There
is, this morning, an operation being mounted by the government to try
to show that nothing has changed in the Conservative Party in the last
few days.
That Theresa May's leadership remains on track and she
is, to use another of her famous phrases, just, "getting on with the
job".
Except, as happened the last time she proclaimed "nothing has changed", something rather fundamental has, after all.
For the doubts that have been building about her in the party for months are now out there in the wide open.
Read more from the BBC's political editor
Mr
Shapps said the prime minister was a "perfectly decent person" but had
"rolled the dice" and lost over her decision to call a snap election, in
which the party had surrendered its majority.
"The time has come.
You can't just carry on when things aren't working. The solution is not
to bury heads in the sand," he told Radio 4.
The list of colleagues covered "a broad spread" including Remainers and Brexiteers, he added.
But
Charles Walker, vice chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee,
told the BBC: "Number Ten must be delighted to learn that it's Grant
Shapps leading this alleged coup.
"Grant has many talents but one
thing he doesn't have is a following in the party. So really I think
this is now just going to fizzle out to be perfectly honest.
"What
you're seeing here is probably the coalition of the disappointed people
who think that their brilliant political talents have not been fully
recognised, and really it doesn't reflect well on them and it doesn't
reflect, in my view, well on Grant Shapps."
Former minister Ed
Vaizey was the first MP to publicly suggest Mrs May should quit on
Thursday, telling the BBC: "I think there will be quite a few people
who will now be pretty firmly of the view that she should resign."
But cabinet ministers have rallied around Mrs May. Home Secretary Amber Rudd has written an article in the Telegraph
urging the prime minister to stay, while First Secretary of State
Damian Green said on the BBC's Question Time the prime minister "was
determined as ever to get on with her job - she sees it as her duty to
do so".
Originally published on http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-41519601
