IT has been revealed that the Prime Minister has allegedly been taking regular power naps  to help him get through the working day.

You’re telling us that Boris has been sleeping on the job.

Well, a Downing Street insider, speaking to Times Radio, has suggested that the Prime Minister is in the habit of shutting the door of his office at Number 10 at midday for half an hour to “get him ready for the rest of the day.”

However, a spokesperson for Number 10 has suggested that the Prime Minister’s day is “literally full of meetings" and so there is no time for any executive nap.

Hmm, a likely story. Does Boris really do enough work to require a power nap?

Your prejudice is showing. The Prime Minister is said to start his day with a 6am run before a working breakfast at the start of his 12-hour working day.

I’ll take your word for it. But are you sure this is not another cack-handed attempt for the Prime Minister to be compared to Winston Churchill?

It is true that Churchill was prone to a power nap. “Nature,” he once noted, “has not intended mankind to work from eight in the morning until midnight without that refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts twenty minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces.”

Is this habit common among political leaders?

Yes, it is actually. The likes of JFK, Bill Clinton (who was often filmed nodding off in public) and even Napoleon liked to catch up with sleep during the day (in Napoleon’s case, sometimes between battles).

Ronald Reagan used to deny he liked to sleep during the day when he was president although his diaries told a different story. When he left the White House, he did joke that his chair should be inscribed with the legend: “Ronald Reagan Slept Here.”

Who else liked a power nap?

The list is a real who’s who of high achievers. Albert Einstein, Salvador Dali, Thomas Edison, Johannes Brahms and Ludwig van Beethoven were all known to doze during the day. (Rather appropriately, a survey revealed last year that Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was the most popular piece of music to fall asleep to.)

As cookery writer, businesswoman, TV personality and ex-convict Martha Stewart once suggested, “I catnap now and then, but I think while I nap, so it’s not a waste of time.”

Maybe we should all take a power nap?

There are certainly advantages. Research has suggested a short nap during the day can make you more alert, reduce stress and make you more efficient.

Possibly not great if you work on a production line, though.

This is true.