No 10 staff will be able to give evidence confidentially to inquiry into whether PM lied over Partygate – as it happened

Prime minister Boris Johnson. Photograph: Reuters

5.02pm BST

Afternoon summary

• The Commons privileges committee has announced that No 10 staff will be able to give evidence anonymously to its inquiry into whether Boris Johnson lied to MPs about Partygate. (See 2.54pm.) In a statement, the committee said it was particularly interesting in hearing from people with knowledge of “Mr Johnson’s knowledge of the activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations, from the occurrence of those events until now” and “any briefing given to, or inquiries made by, Mr Johnson relating to those events”.

• Dominic Raab has expressed doubts about including the right to an abortion in the forthcoming bill of rights, saying the matter was already “settled in UK law”.

• China would be making “a catastrophic miscalculation” if it invaded Taiwan, Liz Truss has said, telling the Nato summit that the UK and other countries should reconsider trading relationships with countries that used economic power in “coercive” ways.

• Ben Wallace, the UK defence secretary, has publicly called for higher defence spending by the middle of the decade in light of Russia’s war on Ukraine, in a move that sets him at odds with Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

• Tariffs on steel imports from China and other countries are to be extended for another two years, the UK government has announced, admitting the move risks breaching World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

• John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, has issued a correction after sowing confusion over the Scottish government’s claims it could win a mandate for independence at the next general election.

4.59pm BST

Johnson claims he came up with idea for European political community-type organisation before Macron

Boris Johnson has claimed that the concept of a new European political community - floated recently by the French president, Emmanuel Macron - is an idea first thought up by him, the BBC’s Jessica Parker reports.

NEW: Boris Johnson says the idea of a European political community was in fact his, not Emmanuel Macron’s

“Emmanuel has an idea which I actually claim paternity of," he told reporters on a flight to the NATO summit

"I had this idea back when I first became Foreign Secretary.”

— Jessica Parker (@MarkerJParker) June 29, 2022

But PM's idea perhaps stretches a little further. He said, "My view is that we should rebuild the whole concept... so I think Turkey should be there. I think with Maghreb should be there. And I think that you should basically be recreating the Mare Nostrum of the Roman Empire."

— Jessica Parker (@MarkerJParker) June 29, 2022

"There's got to be a role for all of us in that in a wider conversation about issues that affect all of us," Boris Johnson said.

( Yday, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss clearly rejected the idea of a new political community - pointing to NATO & the G7 as "key" alliances. )

— Jessica Parker (@MarkerJParker) June 29, 2022

But PM Johnson seems to feel a little more warmly about it - although he concedes there are perhaps, "several different ideas" in the mix.

"That doesn't mean that they're necessarily the same. Rather than creating new structures let's look at building up relationships.”

— Jessica Parker (@MarkerJParker) June 29, 2022