What the papers say – October 25

A variety of news makes the front pages on Thursday – from warnings over police forces struggling to cope to the latest on Brexit.

The Daily Mail says a damning report to MPs revealed that police forces risk becoming “irrelevant” as officer numbers are slashed and vast numbers of crimes go unsolved.

The Times leads on politics, and reports that Theresa May has cited the Government’s crisis over Brexit to justify installing her longstanding lieutenant as Britain’s most senior civil servant without a formal recruitment process.

The PM survived a showdown with Tory foes yesterday to fight another day in Downing Street, the Metro says.

The Daily Telegraph carries a follow-up to its Wednesday front page, and reports that a woman has claimed she was sexually assaulted by the businessman she believes is behind an injunction against the paper.

It comes after Court of Appeal judges temporarily barred the Telegraph from publishing “confidential information” from five employees about a figure the paper described as a “leading businessman”.

The Sun reports that MPs blasted the businessman for the so-called gagging order, while the i claims time is running out and that he could be exposed in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, The Guardian says a Liverpool tower block that had more housing prosecutions in 2017 than any other building was 80% owned by international investors.

And the Daily Mirror reports that there has been a surge in the number of deadly hospital infections.

Elsewhere, the Daily Star carries the story of a Ross Geller “lookalike” being hunted by police.

And the Financial Times reports that struggling chain Patisserie Valerie admitted that it had awarded millions of pounds of share bonuses to its two top executives without notifying shareholders.