Newspaper headlines: 'Kebabs for jabs' and 'baby no 2' for PM and Carrie

By BBC News
Staff

Published: 7 hours ago

image captionYoung people are to be offered free taxi rides, takeaway and supermarket discounts if they have their Covid vaccinations, as part of a government jabs drive, according to the front page of the Sunday Telegraph. Ministers are said to be a discussing a voucher scheme with dozens of firms to be launched later this month. It says the government is "desperate" to boost vaccine uptake among the young - with just 67% of under-29s having received their first dose. Cabinet ministers have told the paper that if uptake is boosted to more than 80% this could remove the need for Covid passports in venues like nightclubs.

image caption"Kebabs for jabs" is how the Sunday People describes the "rewards" being offered to young people to get vaccinated.

image captionThe Sunday Mirror leads on the news that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and wife Carrie are expecting their second child together. The paper reports that Mrs Johnson announced the news on Instagram - and also revealed that she had previously had a miscarriage. The couple are already parents to their 15-month-old son Wilfred.

image captionThe Mail on Sunday's front page quotes Mrs Johnson as saying the couple are hoping for a Christmas "rainbow baby" - a term that describes a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

image captionThe Sunday Express splashes on the same story, with a headline that echoes Mrs Johnson's comment that she was "incredibly blessed" to be pregnant again.

image captionThe Daily Star greets the Johnsons' baby news with its cheeky headline "So THAT's what he's been doing in the lockdown".

image captionThe Sunday Times reports an allegation from a top Tory donor that Ben Elliot, the Conservative party's co-chair, "profited" from giving wealthy clients of his firm Quintessentially access to the Prince of Wales. It claims that Mr Elliot, the Duchess of Cornwall's nephew, introduced Mohamed Amersi, a telecoms millionaire who it says paid an annual fee of £15,000 to be an "elite" member of Quintessentially, to the future king, before the firm organised for him to meet Charles over an "intimate dinner" at Dumfries House in Scotland. Mr Amersi, who later became a member of the prince's inner circle and a trustee of one of his charities, described the arrangement as "access capitalism". However, a spokesman for Mr Elliot told the paper that he had helped Mr Amersi meet Charles "because he wanted to support the prince's charitable work". The spokesman added that Mr Elliot had helped raise more than £13m for charities through the Quintessentially Foundation and was "proud" of this work.

image captionA "stark" analysis by Keir Starmer's new strategist Deborah Mattinson has warned Labour that regaining power will be "impossible" unless the party lures back millions of voters who defected to the Conservatives in 2019, according to the Observer's main story. Top party figures say the briefing suggested this will only happen if Labour adopts "clearer, sharper, more uplifting messages about the party's values and Starmer's vision".

The Sunday People sums up the government's incentive scheme to encourage young people to get vaccinated as "Kebabs for Jabs."

Cabinet ministers have told the Sunday Telegraph that if it increases take-up of first doses among the under-29s to 80%, it may end the need for vaccine passports in nightclubs.

The Observer calls it a "desperate effort" to boost vaccination rates, because legal and political pressure over the passports is growing. The Sunday Mirror says while inducements may be useful - it dismisses this plan as a "gimmick."

According to the Sunday Times, the chancellor has written to the prime minister urging him to ease travel restrictions. In the letter, Rishi Sunak is said to have warned that the UK's border policy is out of step with its international competitors and is damaging the economy and tourism.

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The Observer reports that Labour's new chief strategist has warned Sir Keir Starmer that voters have little idea of what the party stands for. A briefing by Deborah Mattinson suggested that the party needed clearer messaging, but that support for Boris Johnson was waning.

The Observer says it shows the huge challenges Labour faces if it's to avoid a fifth consecutive election defeat.

Meanwhile the Sunday Mirror reports on what it calls "the new jungle" or refugee camp 25 miles from Calais. The paper says traffickers, who sell crossings to the UK from the site outside Dunkirk, also take a slice of the profits from the camp's shop.

The Mail on Sunday reports on a British jihadi bride who was arrested on her return to the UK from Syria last year but never charged. The paper says she's living in a council house and has a prosthetic arm which a relative claims was funded by the NHS.

The Sunday Times examines a court ruling that a woman suspected of being an IS member - who's in the same camp in Syria as Shamima Begum - was unlawfully stripped of her British citizenship because the Home Office didn't tell her it was doing so. The paper says the case could pave the way for dozens of jihadhists to return to the UK.

The Sunday Express and Sun on Sunday delight in what they dub the "baby joy" of the Prime Minister and his wife.

The Mail on Sunday, which believes Carrie Johnson's small bump could be seen at the G7 summit, applauds her decision to reveal her miscarriage as brave.

The historian, Sir Anthony Seldon, tells the Sunday Telegraph that Mr Johnson will become the prime minister with the second largest brood, behind Spencer Percerval who had 13 children when he took office in 1809.

Newman's cartoon in the Sunday Times depicts a scene from the nursery rhyme of the old woman who lived in a shoe with so many children she didn't know what to do. She explains that she's hoping to sell up to Boris Johnson.