JD Vance features on the front of a number of Saturday’s front pages – including in the Financial Times where the paper reflects on the US vice-president saying that European countries must secure their own defence of their continent. Underneath the lead story, is a report on popular fast-fashion group Shein’s plans for a bumper UK stock market listing being likely to be delayed after Donald Trump’s crackdown on tariff-free imports of small goods from China.
JD Vance’ “threat from within” remark takes the main slot in Saturday’s edition of The Times. The paper focuses on the vice-president’s criticism of the UK over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre. A smiling Chiwetel Ejiofor is the main image on the front of the paper as the actor talks about the latest Bridget Jones movie.
The Daily Mail also leads with comments from JD Vance with its eye-catching headline “Free speech is in retreat in the UK”. In a wide-ranging speech in Munich the US vice president claimed the “basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular” are under threat. Elsewhere on the paper, it looks at what it describes Liam Payne’s “chaotic last days” before he died in Argentina last year.
Another star from the latest Bridget Jones film – actor Leo Woodall – features smirking on the front of the Daily Telegraph as he the paper says the Brit is staking his claim to be Britain’s new romcom king. ‘Toyboy’ isn’t a phrase that bothers him, he tells the paper. At the foot of the page the Saturday Matt cartoon pokes fun at Chancellor Rachel Reeves after BBC News reported on Thursday that Rachel Reeves had exaggerated her online CV.
In other news, the Sun claims former Eastenders actor Davood Ghadami fell for his panto co-star Melanie Barker who played Aladdin’s love interest Princess Jasmine during a run of the festive tale at the Waterside Theatre in Aylesbury in 2023.
The Daily Mirror marks the fifth anniversary of Caroline Flack’s death with an interview with her mother Christine. She tells the paper Caroline has left a “life-saving legacy” by “inspiring people to live”.
According to the i newspaper, the UK splashing millions of pounds on a social media advertising campaign, using depressive monologues that tell Albanians not to move to Britain.
The Daily Express dedicates its front page to 13-year-old schoolboy Zach Eagling who has launched a new campaign on public transport for people with wheelchairs.
Finally, the Daily Star says Robert De Niro’s Zero Day co-star Jesse Plemons is backing him as the next president of the US – the headline plays on one of his most famous lines from the iconic scene from the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
A number of Saturday’s newspapers lead with comments made by US Vice President JD Vance during the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
The Daily Mail carries his warning that “Free Speech is in Retreat” in the UK – calling Vance’s address a “blistering speech” which “stunned European leaders and military chiefs” who had expected him to focus on how to end the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Financial Times describes Vance’s approach as “confrontational” and says his claim – that European democracies faced a greater “threat from within” than from Russia – drew a “furious response” from European Union officials.
According to the Guardian, the US VP launched a “brutal ideological assault on Europe, accusing its leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal immigration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs”.
The Times describes Vance’s words as “sweeping polemic” and cites an unnamed government source who has told the paper that Vance came across as “crackers”.
Reuters
In other news, the Daily Telegraph reports that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has pledged a permanent ban on fracking, despite the discovery of a giant gas field in Lincolnshire – which the paper says could fuel the UK’s entire needs for a decade.
The i newspaper says the UK is spending millions of pounds on a social media campaign aimed at putting off Albanians who want to come to Britain.
The mother of the late Caroline Flack gives an interview to the Daily Mirror on the fifth anniversary of the TV star’s death.
Finally, according to the Daily Star Robert De Niro’s Zero Day co-star Jesse Plemons is backing him as the next president of the US, as he has the “command and presence” to take the White House job.
BBC
Reuters
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