Prime Minister Boris Johnson was placed under general anesthesia for routine sinus surgery this morning, Downing Street reported.
Responsibility for any “important decisions” facing the government has been transferred to Deputy Prime Minister Dominique Raab for a period of 24 hours since the start of the operation.
Mr Johnson was taken to an NHS hospital in London at around 6am on Monday morning and shortly afterwards was placed under anesthesia for the operation, which he described as ‘minor’.
The operation – which was scheduled for a while and was not urgent – was described as successful and Mr Johnson returned to Downing Street around 10am, where he spent the day at rest.
A spokesman for the prime minister said: “He went to the hospital around 6 am and the operation was performed first this morning.
“He returned to Downing Street shortly after 10 a.m.”
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 timing of Mr Johnson’s return to work will depend on how he feels, but he planned to chair a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the spokesman said.
Asked who was responsible for the UK’s nuclear accounts during the proceedings, the spokesman said Deputy Prime Minister Dominique Raab and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case were aware in advance and that Mr Johnson had been in custody for a “relatively short time”.
It is not understood that Mr Johnson’s sinus problem is linked to his Covid disease in 2020.
The prime minister spent three nights in intensive care at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London in April 2020, later saying doctors were preparing to announce his death from a coronavirus.
The medics gave him “liters and liters of oxygen,” he said, and had “contingency plans” in case the worst happened.
After two weeks of recovering from the virus and just two days after returning to full-time work, his then-fiancée Carrie Symonds gave birth to their son, Wilfred.
They named it after their grandfathers and two doctors – Dr. Nick Price and Prof. Nick Hart – who helped save Mr. Johnson’s life.
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