Several papers lead on the continued fall out from comments made by MP Lee Anderson, who was suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party over the weekend. “Sunak urged to speak out as Islamophobia row deepens” reads the front of Monday’s Guardian. It reports senior members of the Tory party have criticised the “dangerous” rhetoric.
The i quotes former Tory chairwoman Baroness Warsi, who said Muslims are being treated as “electoral campaign fodder” and that racism is being “tolerated”. On Sunday, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden chose not to describe the comments by Mr Anderson as racist.
The Daily Telegraph takes a different tack on the same story, reporting “leaked WhatsApp message” which show the prime minister is “facing warnings from Red Wall Tory MPs” of a backlash after Mr Anderson was suspended by the parliamentary party. The Red Wall refers to an area in the north of England in which Labour have traditionally been successful, but where the Conservatives won a number of seats in 2019. It notes that while no MPs “explicitly expresses support for Mr Anderson”, they do feel their constituents “have concerns about the fallout from the decision”.
In a follow up to a story which appeared on the front of the Sunday Times, the Metro reports Times Radio political editor Kate McCann talking about her experience of having her drink spiked. The journalist, who has also written about her experience in Monday’s Times, wrote on X she had her drink spiked by “a group of men so brazen they didn’t care who saw”.
Under the headline “Generation Sicknote”, the Daily Mail reports that “young people are increasingly blaming mental health problems for being jobless”, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation. “The shift means people in their early 20s are now more likely to be unemployed due to ill health than those in their early 40s”, it notes as it says critics are questioning if it is all “snowflakery”.
The Times has a different take on the story, going with the headline “poor mental health keeps young adults out of work”. However, the paper’s lead story carries a warning from Home Secretary James Cleverly that deep fakes pose a “serious threat to elections being held around the world this year”.
The Sun carries a report about Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya, who it claims “has a banned XL Bully dog to guard him”. The paper reports he has hired experts to train the dog, and says it has approached the player for comment. Like many of Monday’s papers, it also has an image of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, whose team beat Chelsea to win the Carabao Cup on Sunday.
The Daily Express reports on what it says are “damning claims” that there could be an increase in immigration under a Labour government. It is based on a report from the Henry Jackson Society. Under the Conservative government, net migration for the year up to June 2023 was 672,000, close to a record high level.
And finally the Daily Star reports that rain on 29 February, Leap Day, will make it the wettest February in 258 years.
