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Several of the front pages focus on the news that TV’s Phillip Schofield has come out as gay. “Gopher it, Phil!” puns the Daily Star – with a nod to the presenter’s earlier sidekick puppet, Gordon the Gopher. Fellow TV stars have “rallied around Phillip” since he came out, says the paper.
“Telly favourite” Schofield, 57, told viewers of his This Morning programme that he, his wife and two girls will “always be a family”, reports the Sun.
“Shocked …but proud” is how the Daily Mirror’s headline summarises the feelings of Schofield’s mother Pat, after her son told her he was gay. Meanwhile, the world’s longest-serving soap actor William Roache – Coronation Street’s Ken Barlow – has also spoken to the paper. “Why I’m quitting the Street’s cobbles,” is the paper’s headline.
The Daily Telegraph says Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “expected to sack up to five female ministers” in his expected cabinet reshuffle. But, writing in the paper, Business Secretary Andrea Leadsom has warned about the drawbacks of “male-dominated” workplaces.
The Guardian splash focuses on a new report which found “at least 69 suicides could have been linked to problems with benefit claims” over six years. Families and campaigners have called for a full public inquiry, says the paper, following the findings by government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office.
The UK’s consumer watchdog has moved to “clean up” IVF clinics, reports the i. The paper’s headline accuses the fertility sector of being a “wild west” in which would-be parents are “misled about their chance of conceiving”.
The FT Weekend reports that Chancellor Sajid Javid is considering making tax and pension reforms that could hit high earners in his first budget next month. But the moves have not been finalised amid risks of a Tory backlash, says the paper.
Voters would welcome higher taxes to help pensioners, first-time buyers and GP services, according to a poll for the Daily Express. “Almost half” of those polled said that they feel positive about the country’s future – a clear message, the paper says, that “people are backing Boris to think big and make the country better”.
“Big bank booking” is how the Daily Mail’s headline describes the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first private appearance since stepping back as senior royals. The couple have “refused to confirm whether they were paid” to attend the event held by JP Morgan in Miami, says the paper.
Many pages are devoted to reaction to Phillip Schofield’s revelation about his sexuality.
“I’m gay, I’m proud, and I love my incredible wife” is how the Sun sums up how the presenter broke the news to viewers of ITV’s This Morning.
The Express details the supportive messages of other showbiz pals – Ant and Dec send their “huge respect and admiration” while David Walliams wishes in a tweet for a world where people can “just be who they are”.
In the Telegraph, Sara Wilson writes of how she had to join a support group to recover after her rugby player husband, Keegan Hirst, came out as gay. “It may be a weight off his shoulders”, she says of Schofield’s unburdening, “but it will go straight on to the shoulders of his wife”.
The appearance of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at a JP Morgan event in the US also draws the attention of several papers. “Miami Price” is the headline in the Sun.
The Daily Mail reports that the couple refused to confirm whether they were paid for the private appearance for the world’s biggest bank – but it suggests they were flown privately from Vancouver to attend the event in Miami.
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The i newspaper’s front page reports on a crackdown on what it describes as the “IVF clinic wild west”.
The paper says the Competition and Markets Authority is to issue the first official guidance for clinics to follow after it emerged that desperate would-be parents were being persuaded to have costly, unnecessary treatments.
Journalist Fiona Sturges gives a first-hand account of her experience, and her abiding memory of “the sound of the card machine in the waiting area”.
The Daily Telegraph ponders on the future of the TV licence fee after the government launched a consultation on whether non-payment should remain a criminal offence.
The paper suggests a new “tiered” way of charging for BBC content is currently under consideration by ministers – and that it would mean cheaper licences would be available to anyone who only used some BBC services rather than the full range of television channels, apps and websites.
“Javid eyes tax raid on high earners” is the headline in the Financial Times as it sets out how the chancellor is considering a long-mooted shake up of pension tax breaks in next month’s budget.
The paper quotes “treasury insiders” confirming that restricting tax relief on pension contributions to 20% – rather than the 40% currently enjoyed by higher earners – is under consideration and could raise an extra £10bn in annual revenue.
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And the Times brings us a tale of hard cheese.
It seems that Brexit has yet to deliver the heady freedoms hoped for by cheesemaker Liam McGivern.
Despite being out of the EU – he is still not allowed to label his blue-veined cheese, made in the Cambridgeshire village of Stilton, as Stilton – because of EU protected status laws.
He has had to settle for calling his delicacy “Parish Blue” but he hopes to get Defra to approve a renaming when the Brexit transition period is over.
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