Friday's papers

It was the Sun that James Purnell chose to tell first that he was leaving the cabinet.

GORDON Brown was told last night: "You must quit to save the Labour Party."
The warning came from Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell - as he became the latest minister to resign from the Cabinet this week.

Many of the other papers no doubt had to qickly change their fornt pages.

The Times has his resignation letter printed on the front

The Work and Pensions Secretary’s sensational decision, given to the Prime Minister shortly before polling ended in the European and local elections, left an already damaged Mr Brown in grave peril. He told Mr Brown to stand aside and give Labour a “fighting chance of winning”.

With Labour braced for its worst performance at the polls in a generation in the local and European elections, the Prime Minister's position could soon be untenable.

says the Telegraph

The Guardian says that

Brown had no inkling that Purnell was going to quit, since the work and pensions secretary shrouded his move in secrecy in order to prevent No 10 mounting a pre-emptive strike against him, or seeking to challenge his motives.

The Mail and the Independent lead with yesterdays other main stories.

Betrayed by Britain says the Mail

The families of two French students murdered by a psychopath who should have been behind bars have condemned the laxness of Britain's 'massively negligent' justice system.
An appalling catalogue of blunders by probation officers, police and the courts allowed Dano Sonnex to rob, torture and then kill Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez.

The Independent reports on Barak Obama's historic speech in Cairo,Words that could heal wounds of centuries is its headline with Robert Fisk writing that

Will his lecture to a carefully chosen audience at Cairo University "re-imagine the world" and heal the wounds of centuries between Muslims and Christians? Will it resolve the Arab-Israeli tragedy after more than 60 years? If words could do the job, perhaps..