“My heroes” headlines the Daily Mirror as it reports on the King’s first Birthday Honours List. In a slight to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson the tabloid says “these are honours for people who actually deserve them” following his controversial resignation honours list that the paper says “lavished on Tory cronies and Partygate aides”.
The i highlights banks pocketing £4.8bn in extra profits by “hiking” home loans and not passing on interest rate rises to savers. The paper says several of the UK’s biggest banks have been accused by MPs and experts of “exploiting” customers during the cost-of-living crisis. Meanwhile, the King and US president feature on the front page as it says the monarch will host Joe Biden for climate change talks. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Also focusing on mortgages is the Guardian which reports that more than a quarter of homeowners on a fixed-rate mortgage face a surge in monthly payments before the next election in what is calls a “financial timebomb” that will rock the Conservatives at the polls. The familiar sunglasses and bob of Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour feature on the Guardian’s front page as she is made a Companion of Honour in the King’s first birthday honours list.
The Financial Times headlines “Sunak faces mortgage time-bomb” as households who need to renew deals next year face an average £2,900 rise in annual payments. It observes mortgage rate increases by lenders, like HSBC, NatWest and Nationwide, followed high inflation data last month that prompted markets to increase expectations of Bank of England interest rate rises. One senior government figures tells the paper: “It is serious… inflation is the disease in the economy.”
Stubbornly high inflation in the UK is due to Brexit, according to the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney. He tells the Daily Telegraph: “There’s no joy in saying ‘well, we told you so’ because people are having to live with that reality.” Joe Root is pictured on the front page after he scored a century on the first day of the Ashes., prompting the headline “Root gets the Ashes burning”.
The Daily Mail leads on the hosepipe ban imposed by South East Water affecting residents in Kent and Sussex with the weary-sounding headline “First hose ban is here already”. Also featuring on the front is Boris Johnson who has been unveiled as the paper’s new columnist. The ex-PM reveals a wonder drug has helped him stop his late night fridge raids.
Mr Johnson has urged his supporters in the House of Commons not to vote against the committee’s report with its recommendation to suspend him for 90 days, according to the Daily Express. The paper says he has told them to “ignore the farce and move on”. Davina McCall is also on the front page smiling in a pink suit as she is made an MBE in the King’s first Birthday Honours list.
The Times reports 25 notebooks from Mr Johnson’s time in office are being withheld from him by the government after a review by the security services found pages of highly sensitive material. The paper’s photo choice to report on the honours list is novelist Martin Amis whose knighthood has been conferred a month after his death.
A man in the buff with a rubber ring protecting his modesty features on the front of the Daily Star. It claims naturists are urging Britons to go skinny dipping in the midst of warm weather we are experiencing. A seagull, which is a staple image of Daily Star front pages during each and every summer, looks a little shocked at the idea.
The Guardian says Boris Johnson has asked his allies not to vote against the report, which concluded he repeatedly lied about parties in Downing Street during lockdown. The paper says Conservative MPs have fallen out of love with the former prime minister, with fewer than 10 out of 350 supporting him publicly. The Times quotes friends of the former premier, who say the request is an attempt to move on, so that he can not be perceived as causing party disunity. But critics say he wants to avoid a humiliation.
The Times also reports the government is withholding 25 notebooks from Mr Johnson’s time in office after a review by the security services found pages of highly sensitive material. A source close to Mr Johnson insisted there was no national security sensitive material, describing them as daily jottings from unclassified meetings.
The Daily Express says the King is to take advice on whether to treat Mr Johnson in the same way as other former prime ministers. The paper reports the monarch would normally be expected to invite him to state occasions and make him a Knight of the Garter. One constitutional expert tells the paper the King is in a potentially embarrassing position, because the honour is an order of chivalry.
The Daily Mail’s front page hails Mr Johnson’s arrival to the paper as a columnist, his first contribution not about politics, but rather a weight-loss drug which it says the whole world is talking about.
Boris Johnson runs near his Oxfordshire home
The rest of the Mail’s front page laments the UK’s first hose pipe ban of the year complaining that summer has not even officially started yet. The Sun in an editorial argues it is unforgivable for the taps to run dry after a few warm days.
City traders are betting interest rates will be close to six percent before Christmas, according to the Guardian. The paper describes a Tory timebomb that will rock millions of voters due to come off their fixed rates before they go to the polls. The i newspaper reports high street banks have made billions by increasing mortgages without passing interest rate rises on to savers.
The Daily Telegraph leads on an interview with the former head of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, who it says is blaming Brexit for high inflation. Mr Carney tells the paper “there’s no joy in saying I told you so”.
The paper also reveals the Home Office and the French government have launched a plane to constantly fly over the English Channel to help counter small boat crossings. The Telegraph reports that unlike the drones currently used to track the boats, the plane can fly in all weather conditions and carry half a dozen people.
The former human rights lawyer, Baroness Helena Kennedy, writes in the Financial Times Weekend that it may be unwise to immediately repeal the law which was used, earlier this week, to jail a woman for terminating her pregnancy later than the legal limit. She says it should be reformed at some point, but doing so when culture wars are raging could mean women’s rights end up being reduced rather than expanded.
