Friday morning news briefing: Number 10 accused of dirty tricks

Brexit Party leader accuses Downing Street over peerage offers

Nigel Farage has threatened to report the Conservatives to the police. The Brexit Party leader has accused Downing Street of offering his candidates jobs and peerages to withdraw from the general election. He claimed the Tories were guilty of "corruption of the worst level", alleging they had offered incentives in what he likened to "living in Venezuela" (although No 10 has categorically denied any inducements had been offered). Camilla Tominey and Christopher Hope have a full reconstruction of the day the wheels came off Mr Farage's election campaign. It comes as Boris Johnson pledges to reinstate local railway lines scrapped during the Beeching cuts in the Sixties as part of a package of measures to rejuvenate provincial towns. The Conservatives would start with these routes. Matt sums up the mood of voters in today's cartoon.

Meanwhile, Labour has pledged to part-nationalise BT - meaning every home and business in the UK could get free full-fibre broadband by 2030. The £20billion project would save the average person some £30.30 a month. But the Conservatives have branded it a "fantasy plan" that would cost "hardworking taxpayers tens of billions". Big taxes, big spending, big debt - Tim Wallace has a reminder of what we know about Labour's election manifesto so far.

Rembrandt paintings dumped in shrubbery as heist foiled

Two priceless Rembrandt paintings are feared damaged after they were found dumped in soaking, muddy undergrowth following their theft from a south London art gallery. Police are today continuing to hunt the thief, who is thought to have targeted the works of art in order to claim a ransom from insurers. Crime Correspondent Martin Evans reports how the paintings were stolenfrom the Dulwich Picture Gallery, which has been hosting a major Rembrandt exhibition featuring more than 30 works by the Dutch Master.

Fight your own battles with Sandhurst's new self-help book

Sandhurst is making a foray into the world of self-help literature, by releasing the first book on life lessons from British Army officers. The Royal Military Academy - where all officers in the Army are trained to take on the responsibility of leading soldiers - will publish its first official self improvement and leadership book next month. Defence Correspondent Dominic Nicholls - who went to Sandhurst - has more on the lessons that every officer is taught.

News digest

• School shooting | Pupil pulls gun from backpack and fires on classmates

• Isil influx feared | UK braced for return of dozens of fighters from Turkey

• Caught by a countess | Aristocrat collars burglar hiding behind curtains

• Plastic victim | Stag starves to death tangled in fishermen's waste

• Addicted to shopping? | It is a mental health condition, say researchers

Gallery: The big picture

Another deluge | A car travels through a submerged road as flood-ravaged villages brace themselves for a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours. Click here for our picture editor's choice of more striking images from around the world.

Comment

• Fraser Nelson | Why the Tories should offer amnesty to illegal immigrants

• Michael Deacon | Sour and resentful: Looks like Nigel has been dumped

• Jeremy Warner | Boris Johnson will lose the (next) general election

• Judith Woods | We need to save ourselves from the obesity crisis

• Jemima Lewis | You can either ruin Christmas or you can ruin entire planet

Editor's choice

1. Frozen II | Robbie Collin's verdict on the most anticipated sequel of the year

2. 'I was the victim of a honeytrap' | George Lazenby: The Bond that time forgot

3. Cathy Newman | Charting 100 years since the election of the first female MP

Business and money briefing

Extradition showdown | The British billionaire who founded scandal-hit software company Autonomy faces an extradition battle after American authorities formally requested he be forced to face fraud charges in the US. Mike Lynch is subject to an extradition request filed by the Department of Justice.

• The Think Tank | Can Boris Johnson cure the UK's anxiety problem?

• Investment tip | Our replacement for Lloyds offers more dividend scope

• Stay on top of the markets | Live stocks and shares updates 24 hours a day

Sport briefing

England 7 Montenegro 0 | Gareth Southgate's men qualified for the Euro 2020 tournament at Wembley with ease. As Sam Wallace writes, they dominated possession, as Harry Kane scored a hat-trick and Ben Chilwell laid on three first-half assists - putting the result beyond doubt before the break.

• A step too VAR | Premier League clubs defy calls to overhaul technology

• Danny Cipriani | How to beat salary cap and still be successful in Europe

• Marching on | Federer knocks out Djokovic to reach ATP Finals last four

And finally...

Myth put to bed | Paternity scandals have often plagued the upper classes, beginning with the Royal family: Henry I and Charles II sired at least 41 children out of wedlock between them. But the myth of the bed-hopping aristocracy has been debunked after researchers discovered that historically, the lower classes are 12 times more likely to have illegitimate children than gentry.