Coronavirus | Boris Johnson begins taking charge after hospitalisation: Report

“The Sunday Telegraph’ reports that Mr. Johnson began giving directions to his Cabinet, including to his deputy U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, from his prime ministerial countryside retreat

April 19, 2020 05:02 pm | Updated 05:33 pm IST - London

A still image from footage released by 10 Downing Street on April 3, the office of the British Prime Minister shows PM Boris Johnson giving an update on his condition after he announced that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

A still image from footage released by 10 Downing Street on April 3, the office of the British Prime Minister shows PM Boris Johnson giving an update on his condition after he announced that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has begun taking charge of the government even as he convalesces at Chequers in south-east England, following his hospitalisation after testing positive for coronavirus .

Also read: Coronavirus | U.K. extends lockdown measures for at least 3 more weeks

‘The Sunday Telegraph’ reports that Mr. Johnson began giving directions to his Cabinet, including to his deputy U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, from his prime ministerial countryside retreat as he prepares to resume full charge in the coming days.

The 55-year-old issued some directives to Mr. Raab as well as senior aides in a series of calls last week, followed by a three-hour meeting with his deputy and staff on Friday.

“He [Mr. Johnson] has had some contact with ministers, but mostly with his private office here at Downing Street,” Robert Jenrick, U.K. Communities Minister, had told reporters at the daily Downing Street briefing on Saturday.

The newspaper quoted sources to say that while the Prime Minister was still recovering from COVID-19 , following his discharge from hospital a week ago, he has been getting “more involved”, including to set out a “direction“.

Mr. Raab reportedly visited the U.K. Prime Minister at Chequers, along with Johnson’s chief adviser Dominic Cummings — also back after his self-isolation following symptoms of coronavirus — and Lee Cain, his communications director, on Friday.

The meeting was the first time Johnson has spoken to his deputy Mr. Raab and senior advisers in person since his discharge from hospital last Sunday.

Other aides and officials, including Eddie Lister, Mr. Johnson’s chief strategic adviser, and Mark Sedwill, the Cabinet Secretary, took part via video conferencing application Zoom.

The reports come as another report in ‘The Sunday Times’ claimed Mr. Johnson delayed the U.K.’s response to the pandemic by missing five emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA) meetings at the very start of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove was forced to defend his boss’ “strong” leadership, as he insisted that the suggestion the Prime Minister had “skipped” meetings was “grotesque“.

“The idea that the Prime Minister skipped meetings that are vital to our response to corona is grotesque. There are meetings across government, some which are chaired by the Health Secretary, some chaired by other ministers. The Prime Minister took all the major decisions, said Mr. Gove.

“No one can suggest the prime minister wasn’t throwing heart and soul into fighting this virus. This leadership has been clear, been inspirational at times. Nothing is more off-beam than the suggestion that the Prime Minister was anything other than energetic, focused and strong in his leadership against this virus,” he said.

The first coronavirus case in the U.K. was confirmed on January 29, with the newspaper referring to sources who say that emergency plans were not activated quick enough. ‘The Sunday Times’ quotes a senior adviser to Downing Street, who broke ranks to blame the weeks of complacency on a failure of leadership.

There’s no way you’re at war if your prime minister isn’t there, the adviser said, as it was alleged that Mr. Johnson started chairing the COBRA meeting at a much later stage in the crisis.

The U.K.’s Opposition Labour Party has picked up on the media report and demanded answers, with shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth saying Gove’s defence of the U.K. prime minister was possibly the weakest rebuttal of a detailed expose in British political history .

Britain’s official death toll from the virus now stands at 15,464, and the country has been under lockdown since March 23, with the government extending it until at least the end of the month.

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