19th November

The Mail on Sunday leads with this mornings breaking news about the alleged poisoning of a Russian defector

“Scotland Yard is investigating the attempted murder of a top Russian defector poisoned by political enemies in London.

Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB colonel who fled the current Russian regime to claim asylum in Britain, is under armed police guard in hospital. “
And according to the paper

“Sources have confirmed that the Russian was taken suddenly and dangerously ill on November 1 while investigating the recent murder of dissident Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Mr Litvinenko was poisoned following a clandestine meeting with an associate at a sushi bar in London's Piccadilly. “

Staying with the Mail they reveal that

Key aides move to Windsor ahead of Queen's retirement

"The Queen has taken a step closer to 'semi-retirement' by moving her two closest members of staff to Windsor Castle and making plans to hand more of her responsibilities to Prince Charles.
Angela Kelly, her personal assistant, and Paul Whybrew, her personal page, have moved to grace-and-favour homes in Windsor in the past two weeks and other key members of staff could soon follow. "

Other retirement plans are speculated ,The Times saying that

“TONY BLAIR has privately suggested that he would welcome a “coronation” of Gordon Brown as his successor, according to Downing Street insiders, writes David Cracknell.
The prime minister is also ready to endorse the chancellor unequivocally if he can be assured Brown is fully signed up to the reform agenda that was agreed by the cabinet last month. “

The Observer speculates that

Blair plans a July resignation

But the odds on Thursday, 26 July are narrowing. The last day that Parliament sits before the summer recess, it has gained favour as the day the Prime Minister will finally summon the removal vans - after announcing his plans following May's local elections - and formally trigger a summer contest and coronation at September's Labour conference. A coronation which will now almost certainly be that of Gordon Brown.

Both men are currently on the International stage,Brown visiting British troops in Basra where the Observer reports

“Gordon Brown said last night that British troops could begin withdrawing from Iraq within a 'few months' as the government outlined the first steps in a rethink of the war on terrorism.
On his first visit to the country, the Chancellor met British soldiers in Basra, saying it was crucial for Iraq to be seen to be 'running its own affairs' and offering £100m for economic reconstruction. Unemployment is thought to be a factor in helping to recruit insurgents.”

The Prime Minister is in Pakistan where the Independent reports he was

“ on a mission to seek more co-operation from Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, on the war in terrorism in Britain.

Mr Blair announced a doubling in aid from £236m to £480m over the next three years to the Pakistan Government to support "moderate" schools in Pakistan. It is part of a strategy of undermining the hardline madrassas which are alleged to have brainwashed students in extremist forms of Islam and to have provided radical converts for al-Qa'ida operations in Britain.

And did he commit his worst gaff ?

The same paper tells us

“Gordon Brown was left defending Britain's presence in Iraq yesterday as Tony Blair denied he thought that the invasion had been a "disaster". Interviewed on al-Jazeera on Friday,
His spokesman told reporters travelling with him that Mr Blair did not, after all, agree that the invasion had been a disaster. "He doesn't think that a democratically-elected government in Iraq is a disaster; he doesn't think that getting rid of Saddam was a disaster, but he does acknowledge there are difficulties, and he doesn't try to downplay those."

The telegraph’s Mathew D’Ancona appears to be already writing the Pm’s obituary when he asks

A brief history of Blair the domestic reformer turned global player

The article featuring pictures of the Prime Minister over his 9 years in office asks

“The raft of legislation outlined in the Queen's Speech marked the final milestone of the New Labour leader. But it is an era that ends as it started – mired in confusion and contradiction”
“Yet, last week's Queen's Speech was a finale of sorts: it was the last opportunity for Mr Blair to enact his promise nine years ago to "make Britain better". And, as such, it is a good moment to ask what he has achieved since the blazing morning of May 2, 1997, when he stood atop the ashes of the Tory Party and held the nation in the palm of his hand.


Back to the Independent which leads with

Cocaine: An IoS Special Investigation

"Britons consume more cocaine than people in almost every other country in Europe, the report on drug use in 29 countries released this Thursday will show.
The drug now accounts for more than 13 per cent of all drug-related deaths in Britain. In 2005, 171 people died after using cocaine, compared with 147 in 2004.



The Observer meanwhile investigates the spiralling cost of the London Olympics

“Public support for the 2012 Olympics is in danger of draining away because costs are likely to reach an astonishing £8 billion, according to a devastating report by members of the London Assembly.

The spiralling cost to the taxpayer and secrecy surrounding how the money will be spent threaten the enthusiasm that greeted the capital's victory over Paris in the race to host 2012, politicians on the assembly's Budget Committee warn in a document seen by The Observer.”


To the tabloids now and the News of the World leads with


CONNIE'S SECRET AFTER SHOW DATES

It reveals that

"SOUND Of Music heroine Connie Fisher has a secret Edel-vice—sneakily doing all her favourite things with backstage sound man Leigh Davies.
After innocently kissing hero lover Neal Williams ‘So Long, Farewell' at home, she rushes to the arms of her London Palladium squeeze."

The story made worse by the fact that

“whose pure voice and goody-goody image clinched the lead role as the songbird nun in TV reality show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?”

The main showbusiness news of the weekend is also prominent

“TOM CRUISE married KATIE HOLMES in a wacky Scientology ceremony in which he promised her a cat, a comb and a frying pan.
The Hollywood couple exchanged vows in front of 200 celebrity guests, family and friends and seven-month daughter Suri in a 15th-century castle in Bracciano near Rome.”

The Mirror tells us

“IT was cancelled twice and up to the last minute no-one really knew for sure if Tom Cruise would walk Katie Holmes up the aisle.
But yesterday the Hollywood icon finally got his girl at a medieval castle 20 miles from Rome.
This was one surreal wedding, even by showbiz's outlandish standards. The guests were given presents for turning up. The best man was Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige and the ceremony governed to the tiniest detail by the cult's bizarre beliefs”


Meanwhile in the Jungle the Mirror’s front page lead is

"I’M A Celebrity star Jan Leeming ditched her husband to wed a Red Arrows flying ace in a real-life wife-swap.

In a bizarre twist, the husband she walked out on then married the RAF pilot’s wife.
BBC newsreader Patrick Lunt – the third of Jan’s five ex-husbands – told last night how the switch meant he ended up raising pilot Eric Steenson’s children."