Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s pledge to scrap stamp duty on the purchase of main homes is the top story in many of the papers. The Daily Express reports Badenoch used her speech at the party conference to announce she would scrap the tax to “unleash the ‘dream of home ownership’ for millions”. It says it was a “barnstorming speech which was packed with humour and personal sentiment”.
“Kemi fires up Tories with pledge to scrap hated stamp duty,” reads the front page headline of the Daily Mail. It adds she “electrified the Tory party conference by announcing plans for an audacious £9bn tax cut funded by a crackdown on welfare and waste”. The paper also quotes Victoria Beckham, the former pop star once known as Posh Spice, who opens up about her experience suffering an eating disorder in a new Netflix documentary.
The i Paper focuses on the potential impact of the Tories’ stamp duty pledge on the November Budget. Chancellor Rachel Reeves is “believed to be considering a new property tax to replace stamp duty and now faces extra political pressure to counter the Tories next month”, according to the paper.
The Financial Times leads with warnings from prominent financial institutions, the Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund, that the AI boom could cause a “sudden correction” on the stock market. The paper explains it could trigger a “dotcom” event, referring to the late 1990s investor boom in internet start-ups, some of which “burst” in the early 2000s.
The Daily Telegraph leads with former top civil servant Lord Case questioning Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s explanation of why a “trial collapsed” over alleged Chinese spying, because China had not been labelled a “national security threat” at the time two men were charged. Both of the men charged deny the allegations.
Badenoch’s efforts to “galvanise her leadership and revive the Conservative Party’s political fortunes” through her stamp duty announcement lead the Times. A separate headline asks: “When did UK decide China was not a threat?”
“Ministers commit to overhaul of licensing laws in push for growth” is the Guardian’s top story. It goes on to explain pubs and restaurants will be able to extend their hours under the government’s plans, while adding warnings from health experts that it could lead to “more drunken disorder”. The paper quotes new analysis published in the Lancet on the “scale of children suffering in Gaza”. It reports “almost 55,000 children in Gaza are malnourished”, according to the study led by the UN Relief and Works Agency.
The mother of missing girl Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann, giving testimony in a case against her alleged stalker leads several other newspapers. Madeleine vanished in 2007 at the age of three during a family holiday in Portugal. The Metro reports her family was contacted by Julia Wandelt, who allegedly claimed she was their missing daughter. Mrs McCann “went to police in September last year when she learned Wandelt had allegedly approached her other daughter Amelie”, the paper says. Ms Wandelt denies the stalking charges.
The Sun also leads with Mrs McCann’s testimony in court against her alleged stalker under the headline “I want Maddie back… calling me Mum”. “Posh: my eating disorder struggle” also features on the front page of the paper, next to a photo of Victoria Beckham at the premiere of her new documentary.
“What I want most is for Maddie to be back… calling me ‘mum'” tops the Daily Mirror, reporting on Mrs McCann’s “anguish over a woman claiming to be Madeline”. Gerry McCann, Madeline’s father, “confronted” the woman allegedly claiming to be his daughter, the paper reports.
The 7ft 2in Tory conference attendee James McAlpine makes a back-to-back appearance on the Daily Star’s front page, today talking up his hopes to become the tallest prime minister in history. It embeds a photo of yesterday’s front page, where it referred to Mr McAlpine as the “Never Ending Tory”, quipping that today he was “larging it with Kemi Badenoch”, who noted he was a “stand-out” member of the party.
