to think that we're fu&@ed - Dominic Raab is running the country!

[SlinkyDogg]

Can someone in no 10 order this now
www.amazon.co.uk/Geography-Dummies-Charles-Heatwole/dp/0764516221?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

or "The Turnip" as he was called in the EU during his spell as Brexit secretary.

I wish Boris well, and as he is in major teaching hospital we can be sure he is in good hands.

But he'll be out of commission for weeks,

So yes Raab it is, through all the first review points of emergency legislation, lockdown etc

Dreadful. From one pair of incompetent hands to another.

Could have been Priti Patel.....

At least its not Priti Patel....

Frying pan, fire?

I wish Rishi would come and lead us all. In his hoodie.

This probably is ridiculous but I was wondering whether there was a possibility of a cross party government to deal with cv 19.

I'm obviously wrong but I always thought the Chancellor was next in line.

Don't we have a deputy PM any more?

Where is rishi?
Ive not watched the briefing every day but i do watch the news.
Feel like ive not seen him for a while now.

We're fucked anyway.

Boris didn't appoint a deputy and I can't remember if Theresa May did either. Nick Clegg is the last deputy prime minister I can think of.

Oh god, this is all so terrible :(

Yes, surely Johnson will take a while to recover to the level where he can take any significant workload?

(I'm not going to contemplate him not making it. Cross that bridge, etc...)

Ah, it seems the UK, in its unique parliamentary ways, doesn't have a defined order of "succession" for the incapacity of the PM. We really do make up as we go along. It's only Raab becuae that's who the PM picked.

Rishi needs to come and save us.

I dislike a lot of politicians but Raab makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Oh fuck off with your scaremongering shite. It's a cabinet effort backed by advisors. The outcomes will be the same no matter who is the figure head. People have enough anxiety about the current situation without you stoking the fire.

It isn't ridiculous at all sounsociable. It's probably what's needed right now tbh, and an ideal time now the Labour party have a new leader.

One advisor in particular is the main problem tiggertogger with his terrible whim-based non-science-backed ideas.

Oh, nice - I got deleted despite wishing Johnson a speedy recover. Thanks, someone.

In the early days of this crisis I thought there were some very promising signs that there would be a proper cross party effort. I was particularly impressed by Wes Streeting but since the new shadow cabinet has been formed, it seems we are back to usual with any political point fair game. I'm not a Tory but you can't use this to score points.

Wasn't Lidington May's deputy?

He's probably "leader" in name only. He'll be sent out to do press conferences and things but probably heavily briefed first and they probably won't let him answer many questions (after the Dover debacle).

Behind the scenes there's probably a lot of civil servants running things. I expect Gove is fairly prominent in the background. Can't stand him but he is intelligent and experienced.

The Tory Party, having a huge parliamentary majority, can presumably simply choose a new Prime Minister and put the name to the Queen, if it so wishes. That's how Johnson got the office in the first place, before the General Election.

www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/appointment-prime-ministers

The Tories have an internal procedure for selection, but IIUC it's not dictated by the UK constitution. I don't know how they would formally decide that Johnson couldn't "command confidence" in the House of Commons, either.