'Backlash' over PM's stand down

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Tony Blair has attempted to head off talk about when he will step down but many of the papers write of a backlash.

The Financial Times says he "triggered a backlash" - and it is a "furious backlash" for the Sun, while it is dubbed the "Name the Day Backlash" in the Daily Mirror.

Times columnist Peter Riddell says the PM's Monty Python style "nudge nudge, wink wink" approach is not good enough.

FT political editor James Blitz warns the prime minister may now alienate moderate and loyal Labour MPs.

Own castle

Molly Campbell, who left Scotland to join her father in Pakistan, captivates many of the papers.

The Daily Mail says the 12-year-old looked "remarkably cheerful" as she faced the press in her new country.

The Times' reporter in Lahore details how she has gone from a cramped council house in Stornoway to her very own castle in an exclusive suburb.

The Mirror, though, says Molly should never have run away without telling her mother who is her legal guardian.

Forced out

One of the most distinctive homes in the UK, that of Lord and Lady Long in Newquay, Cornwall, is up for sale.

"I don't like to be beside the seaside" is the way the Independent refers to the idyllic retreat which is reached only by its own a suspension bridge.

The Daily Express is convinced that "rowdy ravers" on the beach have forced out the couple.

However, this is a theory the former Conservative whip and his wife deny in the Independent.

'Hammer and Sickle'

A possible Russian link to takeover talks at West Ham United hands the Sun the headline "Hammer and Sickle".

The FT calls the development an "intriguing twist" in the world of football transfers and club ownership.

Express sportswriter John Dillon thinks the possible takeover could turn the Premiership football club into a feeder club for bigger sharks.

The Sun's Steven Howard ask what would happen if West Ham met Russian-owned Chelsea in a vital end-of-season match.