A political resignation and Labour's NHS plan - papers

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
20 April 2014 Last updated at 05:51 By John Hand BBC News Continue reading the main story The Easter break offers no break from the political spotlight for those hoping to win over voters in the general election in 13 months' time - at least judging from Easter Sunday's newspapers.

Labour leader Ed Miliband is not short of advice to digest over the holiday period. The Sunday Times leads on reports that senior party figures are warning that the party risks being seen as a "one-trick pony" if it focuses too much on the message that it is the party to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis. The paper quotes one former minister as saying: "We need a broader strategy".

The Observer details what might be part of that wider strategy, reporting that Labour is considering a post-election increase in national insurance contributions in order to plug the "black hole" in NHS funding. Former Labour minister Frank Field tells the paper that the NHS "has to be reborn".

Meanwhile, another former Labour minister, Barbara Roche, uses a column in the Independent on Sunday to explain why she believes "Labour is losing the immigration debate". She says Mr Miliband must have the "courage" to take on Ukip leader Nigel Farage directly by making a positive, progressive case for immigration.

According to an opinion poll for the Sunday Telegraph, Ukip is set to hand out a drubbing to the Conservatives in the upcoming European elections and political commentator Iain Martin says: "The party's high command is so resigned to its fate that senior figures have even given up pretending it will be anything other than a nightmarish experience."

The Sunday Express offers some pointers as to where the projected Ukip vote will be coming from - saying that 70% of its online readers had declared their support in a survey.

Looking further ahead, the Mail on Sunday says Mr Farage is on course to win his first Commons seat next year, based on a new opinion poll carried out in Eastleigh, the Hampshire constituency where he stood in a by-election last year.

But it's not all good news for Mr Farage. The Sunday Times reports that Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French National Front, has accused the Ukip leader of slandering her party by calling it "anti-semitic" - and claims he did so to boost his own ratings.

A political exclusive leads the Mail on Sunday. Its own investigation has revealed that the man appointed by the government to run the Public Works Loans Board - the Treasury body responsible for £60bn of loans for infrastructure projects - was declared bankrupt in 2012. As the paper points out, anti-sleaze rules spell out that anyone on a public body who becomes bankrupt must inform the relevant minister and this did not happen in the case of Tony Caplin.

But the paper's expose had immediate results. Within hours of the MoS informing Downing Street, Mr Caplin had left his post.

'Thing of the past?'

The Sunday People uses its front page to launch a campaign to free Morgan the killer whale from what it calls a "heartbreaking living death". It says that instead of swimming wild in the sea, Morgan is being held captive at a zoo in Tenerife that is popular with British tourists. The zoo's owners insist the mammal is happy and in good health.

In an entirely separate case, the Sunday Express reports that killer whales performing tricks in US marine parks could become a thing of the past following a court ruling in the wake of the death of a trainer dragged underwater by a five-ton bull orca.

A California bill that sought to end killer whale shows at Seaworld in San Diego and phase out their captivity was put on hold earlier this month

And the Observer reports a 13% decline in the number of visitors to Seaworld marine parks in the US in the past year, pointing out that a documentary released last year "triggered widespread public outrage".

'Consumer breakthrough'

"Thousands get energy refund" trumpets the front page of the Sunday Express as it explains that one of the major energy firms has admitted overcharging customers with faulty clocks on electricity meters and that has forced other energy giants to "launch urgent checks".

And in another consumer breakthrough, the Sun on Sunday reports that the Big Six power firms have agreed a deal with ministers to halve the current five-week delay faced by customers moving to a cheaper contract.

But the Sunday Mirror says that there is fury at energy watchdog Ofgem for failing to force the same six firms to offer consumers in deprived areas access to cheap or free schemes that reduce the amount of power they use at home.

'Seven seconds away'

The story of a family who had to hurriedly abandon their car in the middle of the lions' enclosure at Longleat Safari Park, when the vehicle suddenly caught fire, captures the imagination of most of the newspapers and particularly their headline writers.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that the lions were only 400ft away and, with the ability to run at up to 50mph, could have covered that distance in just seven seconds.

In an editorial entitled Cat & hot tin roof, the Sun on Sunday says; "As parental nightmares go, it takes some beating."

And the Daily Star Sunday superimposes an image of a lion on the picture of the burning car, with the big cat supposedly asking "Am I too late for the BBQ?"

'Fix the date'

Finally, the occasion of Easter Sunday offers the newspapers the opportunity to ask some big and timely questions.

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An unlikely partnership makes news in the papers as the Sun on Sunday reports on an exchange between Liverpool footballer Luis Suarez and Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.

The paper explains that the pair had a jokey video chat just before the singer played a concert in the striker's home country Uruguay. The striker cheekily asked if Sir Paul would support Uruguay should they knock England out of the World Cup this summer - but the singer said that scenario wouldn't arise as England are destined to win the entire competition.

And the Sunday Mirror has some surprise news for Suarez. He has been nominated as Player of the Year by Manchester United's Patrice Evra. Three years ago, the Uruguayan was banned for eight games after the French defender claimed he had been racially abused during a match.

Writing in the Sun on Sunday, the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, issues an invitation to those who go on an Easter egg hunt or spend time with friends. "Why not tweet what #EasterMeans to you?" he advises.

An Observer editorial suggests that the prime minister should "try some Easter charity" by instructing his work and pensions minister to "call off his attack dogs". "What better time than Easter to resurrect some one-nation Conservatism," he asks.

But the Sunday Mirror editorial says that it is pondering the biggest Easter question, namely: "Why does the date vary so wildly?". It calls for Easter to be fixed on a certain date - such as the final Sunday of March.

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Miller quit calls and palace 'gun drama' - the papers/must visit

 6 April 2014 Last updated at 06:34 By Alex Kleiderman BBC News Continue reading the main story Questions remain about the future of Culture Secretary Maria Miller following the controversy over her housing expense claims, Sunday's newspapers declare.

The Sunday Times acknowledges in its editorial that people might be tempted to conclude a "vindictive press" is "exacting revenge" on a minister involved in discussions over the future of regulation.

However, it maintains "there is much more to this" and the events "exposed the hypocrisy at the heart of our political system".

The Mail on Sunday leads with a poll suggesting that 78% of all voters want Mrs Miller to be sacked from the Cabinet.

Mrs Miller was made to apologise to the Commons for failing to co-operate fully with an inquiry into her expenses and repay £5,800 claimed in error. But the Mail says her "stiff-necked arrogance was greatly magnified by the MPs who watered down her punishment almost to nothing, and the prime minister who very unwisely stood by her".

According to the Sunday Mirror, senior members of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee have said they expect Maria Miller to be sacked from the Cabinet "to stop the barrage of criticism she is getting".

The Observer reports that support for Mrs Miller "appeared to be ebbing". Its political editor Toby Helm says Mrs Miller's Commons statement on Thursday had been an opportunity to turn things in her favour. But he says it was "over so fast and delivered so curtly, more in anger than in sorrow" and only acted to "deflate the Conservative party's post-budget bounce and throw it back into crisis mode".

The lead story in the Sunday Telegraph says pressure for Mrs Miller to quit intensified after a senior minister - speaking on condition of anonymity - suggested her behaviour was 'incompatible with what she should be doing as a Cabinet minister" and "undermines the prime minister because he has talked about a new kind of politics".

And the story attracts the attention of the cartoonists, with Schrank in the Independent on Sunday portraying Mrs Miller emerging from a grave adjacent to the House of Commons carrying the epitaph "MPs' expenses scandal". It's alive and kicking, says the caption.

Scott in the Sunday Express sees Mrs Miller as a Grand National horse - with David Cameron as her hapless jockey - crashing into an alarmed Parliamentary standards commissioner sitting on the side of the track.

Riddell in the Observer has a sleeping Mr Cameron haunted by the "nightmares" of not only Mrs Miller's expense row but the Royal Mail sell-off, Tory green policies and UKIP.

Women in combat

A dramatic photograph of a Queen's Guard in a bearskin hat and ceremonial uniform pointing his bayonet-fixed rifle at a man outside Buckingham Palace features on the front page of the Sun on Sunday under the headline "gun drama at the Palace". It reports that the Coldstream Guards soldier "rushed" from his post to intervene after the man "screamed" at police for five minutes and walked towards the palace's North-Centre Gate.

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Shells fired on the Western front during World War One are being returned to the UK in as part of an act of remembrance reports the Sunday Telegraph.

Hundreds of empty brass fuse caps are finding a peaceful new lease of life as commemorative poppies.

The conical fuses are being melted down in a furnace in the Midlands and turned into golden-coloured poppies that are handcrafted into cufflinks and lapel pins.

The Royal British Legion forces charity will put the mementos on sale in June in time for the centenary of Britain's declaration of war on 4 August 1914.

Scotland Yard said police officers gave the "man words of advice" but he was not arrested. According to the Sun, guards should not normally leave their posts unless there is a threat to a member of the Royal Family. But it is understood the soldier will not face any action over the incident.

Meanwhile, the chief of the general staff has told the Sunday Times that the Army should consider lifting its ban on women serving in combat units in an attempt to boost recruitment and show the service is "open to them". The paper says General Sir Peter Wall's comments are the clearest signal that the service is preparing to take the historic step of allowing women to fight alongside men in the infantry.

A different military development attracts the attention of the Mail on Sunday. It reports that senior officers will be held legally responsible in future for deaths in a war zone caused by faulty kit. The new rules, known as the Duty Holder Concept regulations, could see senior officers being court-martialled. They come after a UK Supreme Court ruling that the government owes a duty of care to soldiers, and deaths in Iraq an Afghanistan linked to inadequate equipment.

The Sunday People highlights figures it has obtained under a Freedom of Information request that show almost 200 of the Army's horses have been ­put down over the last 10 years. The Army has around 500 horses at any one time and the Ministry of Defence tells the paper that the majority are ­re-housed at the end of their service although some have to put down "as a last resort" if they are in pain, have ­debilitating diseases or are a danger.

'Eleventh-hour ping'

The significance of the news that a Chinese patrol ship has detected an ultrasonic pulse close to where the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean is explored.

Search teams from 22 countries are working to locate the missing flight

The Sunday Telegraph says the hunt for the plane "entered a new phase" as the possible signals from its "black box" flight recorder were examined.

The discovery came as search teams from 22 countries faced a desperate 24-hour race against time to find the black box before its batteries, which last 30 days, expired, reports the Sunday Express.

According to the Observer, the announcement "raises hopes" that the mystery of missing flight MH370 may be resolved in the near future. But it notes that most reaction was "cautious and muted" amid a number of false leads over the past month.

The Sunday Times describes the development as an "11th-hour ping", raising the "remarkable prospect that search teams had defied the odds and stumbled across one of the black boxes".

However, the paper also says pilots are resisting proposals by a United Nations body for live steaming of information from plane cockpits to remove the need to search for the flight recorders after any future crashes. It says pilots fear they will be snooped on and unfairly blamed for unexplained crashes.

'Dream win'

The story behind Pineau De Re's triumph in the Grand National attracts almost as much attention as the race itself.

The National is famous for surprises but a novice trainer winning the world's greatest horse race at the first time of trying is rare, says the Sunday Express. Its trainer, former GP Dr Richard Newland, "made winning look easy" when his first entrant romped home at 25-1 to claim the £561,000 prize money, it says.

The Sunday Telegraph describes him as the "GP who fulfilled his Grand National dream", while the headline "Just what the doctor ordered" appears more than once.

One of just 12 horses trained by Dr Newland at his Worcestershire yard, Pineau De Re was able to put 39 rivals from much bigger operations in their place, says the Sunday Mirror.

But the Observer's racing correspondent Greg Wood points out that "it looked and felt like an old-fashioned Grand National... with a grand story attached. The small stable that gets lucky is a constant thread" in the race's history.

The news that all horses and riders had returned unharmed for the second year running was hugely welcome, he added, with bookmakers also "understandably delighted" that highly-backed contenders failed to make the frame.

Dr Newland "retained the calm and collected manner you would expect from your local GP, even after winning the Grand National with a horse he claims to train "just for the fun of it", says the Mail on Sunday,

The paper's Jonathan Powell focuses on winning jockey Leighton Aspell. He had retired in 2007, because he was no longer happy competing, only to return to racing two years later.

"A career that had promised so much appeared to have ended in disillusionment. But yesterday he was in dreamland as his renaissance reached the greatest heights his sport can offer."

It was a dream too for businessman John Provan, says the Sun on Sunday. Once an amateur rider himself, he now co-owns Pineau De Re with Dr Newland.

Making people click

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Observer: Late Night: Craig Ferguson in line to be the new David Letterman

Sunday Mirror: The Voice 2014: Kaiser Chiefs' Ricky Wilson blasts past winners who "didn't see it through"

Independent on Sunday: North Korea wants our television

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