Sunday newspaper round-up: Honours list address leak, Labour leadership, Boris broadband, Amazon, Deliveroo, BP

Tony Blair was bidding for contracts with the European Union for his “institute for global change” as he publicly campaigned to overturn Brexit, The Telegraph can disclose. Documents obtained by this newspaper show that the former prime ­minister held talks with officials about striking a funding agreement between the European Commission and the not-for-profit Tony Blair Institute (TBI). - Sunday Telegraph

Accusations of cronyism at the top of the Labour party and a “repeated unwillingness to stand up to the stain of antisemitism” must be confronted if it is to learn from its “catastrophic” election loss, a group of defeated MPs and candidates have warned. The group says that Labour needs to go “way beyond a simple review” of its election performance if it is to understand why it fell to such a heavy defeat, which left it with its lowest number of seats since 1935. - Observer

Boris Johnson faces opposition in the House of Lords to a bill that could prove key to his ambition of providing the whole of Britain with access to superfast broadband. The Prime Minister has pledged to connect every home in the UK to ‘gigabit-capable’ broadband by 2025, which many in the industry see as a highly ambitious target that will need significant funding. - Mail on Sunday

Jeremy Corbyn’s allies are divided over who should succeed him amid concern that the frontrunner, Rebecca Long Bailey, is an unknown and lacks broad appeal among party members. Ian Lavery, the former miner and pro-Brexit chairman of the party, has told friends that he is considering a leadership challenge but is waiting for Long Bailey to set out her vision first. - The Sunday Times

Almost £4bn has been ploughed back into funds that invest in London-listed shares since the election was called, in the biggest wave of money since prior to the EU referendum. Recovering investor confidence after Boris Johnson’s decisive victory in the election has driven billions back into UK stock funds in recent weeks. - Sunday Telegraph

Amazon’s UK ambitions have been checked by the competition watchdog after it launched an in-depth investigation into the online retailer’s purchase of a stake in food delivery company Deliveroo. The Competition and Markets Authority announced the probe on Friday after Amazon and Deliveroo declined to offer concessions in response to the CMA’s initial raising of concerns earlier this month. - Observer

Itsu, the Asian-inspired fast-food chain, will more than double in size over the next five years by opening 100 outlets across the UK and abroad, the Mail on Sunday reported. The ambitious expansion strategy, led by millionaire founder Julian Metcalfe, should treble Itsu’s sales – while other restaurants are struggling to survive. - Mail on Sunday

BP’s retiring chief executive has accused campaigners and politicians of oversimplifying the climate change crisis, arguing that natural gas should be a bridge between fossil fuels and renewables. Bob Dudley, due to step down in February after almost 10 years in charge, said it was “hard to find people who understand the complexity of the energy system” and warned the world would “not even come close” to replacing fossil fuels with renewables in the next two decades. - The Sunday Times

Britain’s struggling steel makers are calling on the Government to fulfill pre-election promises by forging ahead with the controversial HS2 rail link to boost the troubled industry. Construction of the rail project linking London and the Midlands is expected to need 2m tonnes of steel, according to official projections. - Sunday Telegraph

The aftershocks of the Thomas Cook liquidation are still being felt some three months after its seismic collapse, if only because the 178-year-old company practically invented modern tourism. German arch-rival Tui pounced swiftly, adding 2 million extra seats on flights for summer 2020 and, at short notice, 580,000 for short- and long-haul journeys over this winter. - Observer

A Nigerian prisoner who wrote a chilling plea on a Tesco Christmas card from inside a Chinese jail has said he and a fellow inmate wrote similar messages in 10 boxes of cards. The man, named only as Antoine, who got out the prison two months ago after a four-year stretch for alleged contract fraud, heard one of his notes had been found after he returned home. - Mail on Sunday

The boss of FTSE 100 conglomerate Smiths Group is likely to step down next year after the demerger of its £2bn medical business. Andy Reynolds Smith, chief executive since 2015, has been under pressure from investors since he was forced to abandon a merger of Smiths Medical, which makes devices such as catheters, with American rival ICU Medical. - The Sunday Times

In the olive groves of north-west Syria, tarpaulin sheets stretched across barren trees do little to keep out the sleeting rain. The families huddle for warmth as the temperatures drop to nearly zero degrees celsius. Babies are bundled in coats and blankets, the adults burn wood and use up the last of their dwindling gas supplies. - Sunday Telegraph

An attacker has stabbed five people during Hanukkah festivities at a rabbi’s home in New York state. The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council said an attacker wearing a scarf fled after stabbing the victims at a house in Monsey, Rockland county, about 30 miles north of New York City, on Saturday night. - Observer

An overwhelming majority of Britons want the BBC licence fee scrapped, a new poll has shown, as the ex-Ofcom chairman called for a Netflix-style subscription model to replace it. Three-quarters of people want it axed, with more than six in 10 backing Boris Johnson's plans to decriminalise payment of the £154.50 fee. - Mail on Sunday