Sunday Express

England and Wales’s new police commissioners – elected last Thursday with the lowest turnout in any public ballot since World War II – are now knuckling down to work with the daunting prospect of having to turn around budget plans for their regions’ forces in a matter of just 10 weeks.

Following the dismal, 15% vote that put them in office, the Electoral Commission is launching an inquiry over the lack of interest in the scheme. New police commissioner Matthew Grove, who trumped Lord Prescott for the Humberside post, blamed the media for encouraging voters to boycott the scheme.

For his part, Prescott attempted to deflect suggestions that he was consumed with disappointment over losing out to Grove. “I said at the beginning this is a Tory marginal seat,” he said. “It’s not a safe Labour seat. It would have been nice but it wasn’t so, the people have spoken. Clacton Tory MP Douglas Carswell was somewhat less philosophical. “The last thing people want is a failed minister running their local police,” he said.

Mail online

British Airways bosses are recoiling from a horrendous social media mistake that occurred on Saturday afternoon, after the company’s official Twitter account retweeted a customer’s racially abusive comments to one of its staff. User @GordonQiu9 had issued his epithet-strewn tweet after desk staff at an unspecified airport had informed him that his flight was cancelled. Following the retweet – which BA put down to a lapse by its large marketing team – the message was passed on by around 160 followers. BA is now investigating the incident.

Guardian

David Cameron has recruited abrasive Australian political “fixer” Lynton Crosby to helm the Tory Party’s election campaign for 2015, it has emerged. Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone – who was on the wrong end of Crosby’s talents while fighting Boris Johnson in the last mayoral election – described the development as “very depressing”, saying that the Tories would inivitably run a negative campaign as a result. “I found every single aspect of my life was worked over in real detail,” Livingstone complained. “[The Tories will] look over every aspect of Ed Milband’s life.”

Telegraph

UK banks are becoming uninsurable, chiefs at the Association of British Insurers (ABI) have warned. In preliminary evidence to the Parliamentary Committee on Banking Standards last week, the trade body said: “We are concerned that banking regulators are currently focused on financial stability at the expense of economic growth. This has a negative impact on banks’ investability.” Banks, added the ABI, must have the scope to lend more to new businesses in order to strengthen their insurability.

Mirror

Flamboyant rapper Snoop Dogg – forever known to Father Ted fans as Scoopy Scoopy Dog Dog – looks set to turn sports mogul with the announcement that he plans to purchase a share in Celtic football club, and recruit his friend David Beckham to the squad. Scoop… um, sorry… Snoop was swept up in a tide of Celtic fandom after he watched them beat Barcelona earlier this month. “I want to bring a bit of Snoop to things,” he said. “I am passionate about my sport. The boxes at Celtic would never be the same once I have hosted a party there.”

Sun

Churchill Car Insurance bosses have axed Martin Clunes from the company’s TV ad campaign after the former Men Behaving Badly star decided to do another spot of bad behaviour by speeding. As Clunes hit 12 points on his license, local magistrates decided to take him off the roads, thereby demolishing his suitability as Churchill the Dog’s TV sidekick. “Churchill Insurance currently has no adverts with Martin Clunes on air and will be moving forward with new advertising in the New Year,” said the company.