In the headlines
“Is this proof the Partygate probe was a Labour plot?” asks the Daily Mail, after Sue Gray quit her civil service job to become Keir Starmer’s chief of staff. Tory MPs say the appointment proves that Gray’s report into lockdown parties, which helped contribute to Boris Johnson’s downfall as PM, was biased against him. The head of MI5 has said he is “profoundly sorry” for failing to thwart the Manchester Arena bombing, which killed 22 people. An independent inquiry found that the agency missed a “significant opportunity” to stop Salman Abedi, by failing to act on intelligence about his links to Islamic extremist groups. Officials briefly considered culling all of Britain’s cats at the start of the pandemic amid fears they could spread Covid, says the Daily Star. It would have been “Apocalypse Miaow”.