I very much hope that Boris Johnson is going to be fine and fit as quickly as possible. The statement from Downing Street is straight:
• Since Sunday evening, the Prime Minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.
• Over the course of yesterday afternoon, the condition of the PM worsened, and, on the advice of his medical team, he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital.
• The PM has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is the First Secretary of State, to deputise for him where necessary.
• The PM is receiving excellent care, and thanks all NHS staff for their hard work and dedication.
Personally I didn’t realise how ill he was until I saw his face on a video at the end of last week. Everyone wants Boris to recover quickly - to his normal robust good health. In the meantime, Dominic Raab will deputise for him.
I know Dominic Raab well. He is clever, calm and utterly decent and I know he will do the job very well. Actually, he is one of my best friends at Westminster. We were elected to Parliament together and I have spoken at events in his constituency several times. Dominic did the same for me on Friday 20 September last year when he came to speak at the Beckenham Conservative Party Annual Dinner at the Kent County Cricket Ground in Worsley Bridge Road just before the General Election was called.
He went down very well and spent a great deal of time chatting to people who were particularly impressed by the way he listened and talked to them. Over dinner he spoke compellingly and with great understanding of what was going on in the country. I know those present were very impressed because they told me so. His intelligence, simple decency, care and lack of affectation was obvious to everyone. He is definitely a leader and up to his present stand-in task.
Dominic will do us proud until the Prime Minister gets on his feet. Cometh the hour cometh the man – until Boris is back!