Newspaper headlines: 'Reform revolution' and 'Prince Harry bombshell'
Reform UK's leader Nigel Farage appears on several of the front pages. The Daily Telegraph shows him holding up six fingers, the margin of victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, with the headline "the six votes that shook politics". The Daily Mail calls Reform's success a "stunning breakthrough" that has sent "shockwaves through the political establishment". The Financial Times says the results mean the Conservative Party is "losing a fight to the death".
Writing in the Times, Sir Keir Starmer insists Labour is moving the country in the right direction but says: "am I satisfied with where we are? Not even close." The Daily Mirror's editorial offers this thought: "Mr Farage claims to stand up for ordinary people", it says, "but Reform's policies will do harm. To beat him, Labour must become Labour". The Sun's political editor, Harry Cole, writes: "Nigel Farage not only tipped over the apple cart of English politics, he set it alight for good measure. And the fumes are choking both Downing Street and the Tories."
The i reports that "doubts are emerging" within the Conservatives about how long Kemi Badenoch will be given to prove herself as leader. Writing in the Mail, the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson calls Badenoch "interesting and impressive", and predicts voters will return to the Tories. He argues that "the brute facts of electoral maths, and the first-past-the-post system, mean there will be only one way to expel this Labour government - and that is to vote Conservative".
The Guardian's sketch writer, John Crace, sees problems ahead for Reform: "the danger for Farage is that with success comes obligations. An expectation to deliver. A problem Nige has never encountered before. He'd only ever carped from the sidelines."
