A range of stories make Friday’s front pages including the Times which splashes on comments from a former Conservative justice secretary, David Gauke, about sending convicts to open prisons to ease crowding. Gauke, who is reviewing sentencing policy for the new Labour government, says he is taking lessons from Spain, where reforms have cut prison numbers and reoffending. At the top of the Times, Bruno Fernandes looks dejected after being sent off for Manchester United in their 2-0 Boxing Day defeat away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Friday’s Financial Times leads with US and regional officials saying Russian anti-aircraft fire could have caused an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane to crash in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day. The lead story is accompanied by an image of a sniffer dog and emergency specialists investigating near the crash site close to Aktau. Elsewhere on the front page, Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch trade claims of fake party membership figures.
The story of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch exchanging political accusations is the lead story in the i newspaper. The paper says the two were “engaged in an extraordinary political fight over party membership numbers” on Boxing Day.
Nigel Farage poses in a picture on the front of the Daily Telegraph clutching a pint next to some horses as the Reform leader joined the Boxing Day hunt in Elham, Kent. The Telegraph also leads with the clash between Farage and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch – with claims an online membership tracker is “coded to tick up automatically” as number surpasses last known Tory total.
The Daily Express brands the campaign group Just Stop Oil “hypocrites” as it claims £20 T-shirts have been shipped 4,000 miles. In response, Just Stop Oil told the Express that a “war-style mobilisation” was needed “to end fossil fuel use by 2030, so all T-shirts can be made, shipped and sold without risking our traditions, our heritage and our hard-fought rights”.
“Horror at Christmas” is the headline on the Daily Mirror above a photo of police cars and tape outside the scene of a double stabbing in Milton Keynes. Two women were killed while another man and a teenager were seriously injured in the incident, the paper says. In other news, the paper reflects on Helen Worth’s final scenes in Coronation Street after her finale episode over Christmas.
The Daily Mail features on its front page an image of James Corden and Ruth Jones as Gavin and Stacey topped the Christmas Day TV ratings. The finale attracted an average of 12.3 million TV viewers – the largest Christmas Day audience in more than a decade – and even “trumped the King”, the paper says.
Dominating the front page of the Guardian is a a woman braving freezing conditions in the Firth of Clyde as people take part in a Boxing Day charity swim that raises funds for Ayrshire Cancer Support. The paper leads with a story on the NHS being “at risk of paralysis while waiting for Wes Streeting’s reforms”, according to the thinktank Institute for Public Policy Research.
Finally, the Daily Star carries a weather warning as its lead story, reporting that US hurricanes are to send “wild storms and chilling temperatures” to the UK at the start of 2025.
There are a range of stories on the front of Friday’s post-Christmas newspapers.
Former Tory Justice Secretary David Gauke tells the Times that thousands of prisoners should be moved to low security jails to tackle the overcrowding crisis. Gauke says England and Wales should emulate Spain – which allows many inmates to work and study during the day.
The Guardian leads with a warning from the Institute of Public Policy Research think tank, that the NHS risks “paralysing uncertainty”, as it waits to see Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s ten-year plan for reform.
Climate campaign group Just Stop Oil has been accused by the Daily Express of hypocrisy for selling merchandise made in the Dominican Republic. The paper says the organisation makes “no apology for the carbon creating journey” the goods make.
Reuters
The leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, says his party now has more members than the Conservatives
The Daily Telegraph splashes on a a war of words between Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK’s Nigel Farage about which party has more members.
Farage and Badenoch’s accuse each other of faking their membership figures, according to the front of Friday’s i newspaper.
In other domestic news the Daily Mirror leads with a story from Milton Keynes where two women died and a teenage boy and a man were both seriously injured in a suspected stabbing at a block of flats on Christmas Day.
Finally, the Daily Star says the start of 2025 is expected to ring in “erratic changes” in the weather according to the Met Office, bringing rain, stronger winds and even snow in some parts of the UK, but not for long.
Reuters
