'Pay-off for Mandelson' and 'relegation battle'

The Sunday Times says the pay-off to Lord Mandelson after he was removed as ambassador to the US will likely "add to the pressure on Sir Keir Starmer". The Sunday Mirror headlines on the "Labour heavyweight" Lord Blunkett's message to the prime minister: "Get your act together". The Sun on Sunday's editorial says Sir Keir "can't shift this vetting scandal stench".

According to the Sunday Telegraph, Sir Keir is said to be "devastated" and considering his future. The paper adds that the deputy prime minister, David Lammy, has let it be known that he had not been in favour of appointing Lord Mandelson as ambassador. The mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, tells the Observer that it would be a mistake to oust Sir Keir. "Football is a 90-minute game", he says, adding that "you wouldn't dream of saying in the 35th minute because you're 2-0 down - we'll take all the players off and sack the manager".

The Mail on Sunday says it's unearthed emails that show Jeffrey Epstein took a Romanian model "in her early 20s" to a "private dinner" at Buckingham Palace with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. It says the former prince entertained Epstein and four women at the Palace while Queen Elizabeth II was away at Balmoral. Mountbatten-Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing.

The Sunday Express says the "Red Arrows may use foreign built jets for the first time". It says government "dither and delay" in picking a replacement for the aging British Hawk aircraft has "tipped the balance to US firms". A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence says "no final procurement decisions have been made".

The Express also carries pictures of a 15-foot gold sculpture of President Donald Trump. It says the statue, dubbed "Don Colossus", was commissioned by "cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and backers" of the president, and depicts the moment he "raised his fist after an assassination attempt" in Pennsylvania in 2024. "It's fools gold" according to the Daily Star Sunday, which reports that the sculpture "languishes unwanted in storage" because the artist has not been paid in full.

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