BORIS Johnson has undergone surgery for a sinus condition, leaving his deputy Dominic Raab in charge of the country.
The Prime Minister was anaesthetised for a “relatively brief time” this morning and is now resting back in Downing Street.
Mr Raab was techically in charge of the nuclear accounts during the procedure and may be brought into “significant decisions” for a further 24 hours.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Mr Johnson underwent a “very minor routine operation related to his sinuses” at a London hospital.
He said: “He went to hospital around 6am and the operation was carried out first thing this morning. He was back in Downing Street shortly after 10am.”
Asked how the Prime Minister was feeling, the spokesman said he had not spoken to him since his return to Downing Street but that he was resting at home.
The condition is understood to be unrelated to his severe bout of Covid in 2020.
The spokesman said the timing of Mr Johnson’s return to work would depend on how he feels, but he was planning to chair Tuesday morning’s Cabinet meeting.
Asked who was in charge of the UK nuclear accounts during the procedure, the spokesperson said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case were aware in advance and that Mr Johnson was under for a “relatively brief time”.
He said: “Operationally, my understanding is there’s a 24-hour period from when the operation takes place … under which sort of significant decisions would be deferred to probably in the first instance the Deputy Prime Minister.
“Now we’re not anticipating any of that being required currently, but we do have that capability.”
The operation was on the NHS and was scheduled “for a while”, he said, without specifying at which hospital it took place.
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