Portrait of the week: Inflation soars as Boris moves out of No. 10

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The annual rate of inflation rose to 10.1 per cent, its highest since 1982. Average wages rose by 4.7 per cent between April and June, but inflation in that quarter left average workers 3 per cent less well-off than before. The supermarket Iceland was to offer customers interest-free loans of between £25 and £100, repayable at £10 a week, to help them buy food. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, called for £29 billion to be spent on freezing energy prices for six months for all consumers, rich and poor, partly to be paid for by extending the windfall tax on oil and gas. Railway workers belonging to the RMT union went on strike for another two days. In the week before 7 August, 1,924 people crossed the Channel in small craft, bringing the total for the year to more than 20,000. Removal lorries were seen in Downing Street while Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, was abroad on holiday.