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Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, was ritually buried by the House of Commons voting by 354 to seven to approve the Privileges Committee report that found he had lied to parliament about observing coronavirus regulations. He would have been suspended for 90 days had he not left parliament; as it was, his pass to enter the Houses of Parliament was withdrawn. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, having remembered an important long-standing engagement, was among 225 MPs who were absent or abstained. David Warburton, an MP who sat as a Conservative until last year, said he was leaving the House. In the King’s birthday honours, Sir John Bell, Ian McEwan and Dame Anna Wintour were appointed Companion of Honour. William Shawcross was knighted and Martin Amis was knighted the day before his death on 19 May.

The average interest rate on a new two-year fixed mortgage rose above 6 per cent. The annual rate of inflation, instead of falling, remained at 8.7 per cent. More than six million people with disabilities began to receive a single £150 payment to help with the cost of living. The driver of a tram that overturned in Croydon in 2016, killing seven, was found not guilty by an Old Bailey jury of failing to take reasonable care at work. The former footballer Graeme Souness, aged 70, swam the Channel for charity. On 17 and 18 June 707 migrants in small boats crossed the Channel, bringing the total for 2023 to 10,539.

George Osborne, the former chancellor, gave a thumbnail narrative to the Covid inquiry: ‘I think the Chinese lockdown is what gives the rest of the world the idea. And it’s the overwhelming of the hospital system in northern Italy that then leads all western governments to reach basically the same conclusion, which is: we’ve got to do what the Chinese have done.’ Labour, as part of its energy policy, which would prohibit new oil or gas developments in the North Sea, said it would give a government-owned enterprise, GB Energy, headquarters in Scotland. South East Water, surprised that customers wanted to water their gardens during a dry spell, imposed hosepipe bans in Kent and Sussex. Australia won a thrilling first Ashes Test at Edgbaston by two wickets.

Abroad

President Vladimir Putin said that Russia had stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. Russian drones attacked Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia and hit infrastructure in Lviv. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa told Mr Putin: ‘This war has to have an end… It must be settled through negotiations and through diplomatic means.’ His delegation of African leaders had visited President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine the day before. Nine Egyptian men appeared in court in Greece accused of causing a disaster last week when a vessel sank 50 miles off Pylos; of the 750 migrants thought to be on board, 104 were rescued. A submersible with five sightseers aboard was lost near the site of the wreck of the Titanic, 350 miles off the coast of Newfoundland. President Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay changed his mind about melting down the seven hundredweight bronze eagle figurehead from the Graf Spee, scuttled in 1939, and recasting it as a dove of peace.

Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State, visited Beijing, holding talks with Xi Jinping, ruler of China. Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition politician serving a nine-year prison sentence, was put on trial on new political charges. Armed men aligned with Islamic State attacked a school at Mpondwe in Uganda, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least 40. The head of the UN’s refugee agency said more than 500,000 had fled Sudan since war began in April. Six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during a raid on Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. Four Israelis died when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a petrol station and restaurant in the West Bank. After a five-year investigation Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, reached an agreement with the US Attorney in Delaware to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanours and admit illegally possessing a gun while a drug user. Andrew Tate, a British-American social media personality, was charged in Romania with rape and human trafficking. French police investigating alleged corruption searched the headquarters of the organisers of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Italy acted to prevent Sinochem, a Chinese state-owned company, from taking control of the tyre-makers Pirelli.