“This is the last chance to beat the right”, is the message from the new Labour leader, Andy Burnham, on the front of the Guardian, external. The paper says he set out a “distinctly left-wing vision” for Britain, with promises when he becomes prime minister on Monday to undo the Thatcherism of the 1980s. The Sun, external says “despite having no personal mandate”, he pledged the most significant change in politics in the past 40 years.
The Daily Mail, external says Burnham’s speech was “long on rhetoric but short on detail”. The Weekend I offers a similar analysis in its headline “Andy Burnham promises hope… but stays quiet on everything else”. The Daily Star’s leader says “we deserve far better than this”, while the editorial in the Daily Express, external is left pondering: “Have we just got another tax-and-spend Labour emperor with darker eyebrows?”
The Daily Telegraph, external understands that the former deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, is being lined up by Burnham to become the new health secretary. It says she would be given the task of pushing through social care reforms in England. However, the Times, external reports that Rayner has not been approached about the role and would apparently require “some persuading”.
The Weekend I, external reveals police are to examine claims that Robert Jenrick’s 2024 Conservative leadership campaign was repeatedly warned about the source of a £37,500 donation. The paper says it was raised five times that the money came from a foreign donor. Jenrick, who is now in Reform UK, has repeatedly denied breaking any electoral laws.
“All-round great”, is how the Sun, external, pays tribute to the West Indies cricketer, Sir Garry Sobers, after his death at the age of 89. The Daily Mail, external summarises a vote on the five cricketers of the century from the year 2000. “Bradman first, Sobers second… daylight third”. In Test matches, he scored more than 8,000 runs and took 235 wickets. But “to present Sobers in statistical terms”, the Daily Telegraph, external says, “is no more to convey the essence of the man than to describe Beethoven by the number of his symphonies”.
