BBC
Nearly all of Tuesday’s papers carry photos of the three young girls who were killed in the knife attack in Southport.
“Faces of the innocent little Taylor Swift Fans” is how The Daily Mail describes them. The Mail highlights a tribute by one of the girls’ relatives, which contrasts them with “the despicable human being who took their lives” at a dance class.
In The Sun they are “The Lost Angels”. The paper says the attacker was thwarted by two teachers and a window cleaner, who it hails as the “heroes of knife hell”.
The Daily Express calls six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar “angelic school girls” and asks: “Why were they taken from us?”
Southport is a “town in tears”, writes The Daily Mirror.
The Times reports that former neighbours of the alleged attacker described him as a “quiet boy” who rarely left the family home. It says he practised karate and was the son of a taxi driver.
The paper mentions false rumours spread on social media that the teenager was a Muslim asylum seeker, when actually he was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents.
It says misinformation led to hundreds of people – who police describe as supporters of the English Defence League – gathering at a mosque in Southport on Tuesday evening.
The Daily Telegraph leads on the violence that then erupted between the demonstrators and police at this gathering with rocks and bottles being thrown. Hours earlier, a peaceful vigil took place a few streets away.
The publication says the Reform Party leader Nigel Farage has raised questions about whether there was any truth in rumours the teenager was on a terror watch-list.
An unnamed source tells the paper that “terror has not been entirely ruled out at this point”.
Family picturesSeveral papers including The Financial Times cover the chancellor’s comments about coming tax rises on their front pages.
Rachel Reeves made the acknowledgement about her autumn budget on the News Agents podcast, but declined to say exactly which taxes would be involved.
Ms Reeves has accused the former chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, of lying about the state of public finances, but he tells the FT the attack was “desperate” and that her claims of a fiscal cover up were “unravelling”.
The Guardian reports on allegations that the front-runner to be the next Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, “traumatised” and bullied senior staff when she was in government.
Unnamed sources tell the paper at least three officials were so intimidated they felt they had no other choice but to leave.
The report goes on to say that morale was so low in the Department for Business and Trade last year that the concerns were addressed during an official meeting attended by about 70 staff.
A spokesperson for Ms Badenoch said the claims were “completely false and a flagrant smear”.
And The Times says President Emmanuel Macron’s taste for luxury could prove damaging at a time when France is under pressure to introduce austerity measures to reduce its national debt.
Figures from French spending watchdogs reveal that a lobster banquet held for King Charles at the Palace of Versailles cost about £400,000, pushing Mr Macron’s presidential expenditure over budget.
The bill included more than £80,000 for waiters, £75,000 for hiring tables and chairs – and almost £40,000 spent on champagne.
