‘Get them out’ Sudan and Len Goodman gets ‘a perfect 10’

The Times leads with what it calls a “race against time” to save the 4,000 UK citizens in Sudan.

It says those remaining in the capital Khartoum “face a choice between staying with dwindling food and water, and the possibility of gunfire and hijacking if they try to escape”. The i says those wanting to leave will have to brave a three-day drive to reach Royal Navy rescue ships – in an operation ministers believe is significantly more difficult than the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. In its leader column, the Sun says there are “deeply uncomfortable reminders” of that process, and warns “the clock is ticking”. Meanwhile the Daily Mirror calls on ministers to “act now to get all of them out”.

“Sunak and Hunt pressed to deliver on pledge to mend ties with business”, is the headline in the Financial Times. It focuses on speeches by the prime minister and chancellor at a meeting of business leaders in which Jeremy Hunt admitted corporate taxes were too high. The Daily Mail highlights an exchange between Rishi Sunak and Gerry Murphy, the chairman of Burberry, who criticised the removal of VAT refunds for foreign visitors who shop in the UK.

The Guardian quotes two Labour frontbenchers as saying that Diane Abbott should consider stepping down at the next election. The veteran MP, who is 69 and has held her seat since 1987, was suspended from the party after comments condemned by Sir Keir Starmer as antisemitic. She has since apologised, but an investigation is under way. An unnamed Labour MP says they want her “to be able to retire with some dignity”.

And the Daily Mail says a controversial winner has emerged in a contest to determine the best biscuit to dunk in tea. The Jaffa Cake, which many people refuse to define as a biscuit, came in first place withstanding 116 dunks before breaking. The paper says the plain digestive was the “least suited to the task”, managing only six.