Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Boris Johnson spends night in intensive care

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Tuesday 07 April 2020 07:54 BST

Boris Johnson moved to intensive care

World leaders have been sending messages of support for Boris Johnson after the prime minister was moved to intensive care. We haven’t seen politics-as-usual for a while now. But all sense of normality has now well and truly disappeared, as foreign secretary Dominic Raab effectively assumes prime ministerial duties during the ongoing crisis. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus outbreak.

Inside the bubble

Our chief political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

The government has lost all sense of a weekly rhythm during the coronavirus lockdown, like so many of the rest of us. This morning’s video cabinet meeting has been cancelled after the PM was taken to intensive care. Grant Shapps, transport secretary, is still set to give evidence to the transport select committee. Keir Starmer is expected to announce his junior shadow ministerial appointments. And there’ll be another news conference at Downing Street.

Daily briefing

PM IN ICU: Boris Johnson was moved into an intensive care unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London after his coronavirus symptoms “worsened”, Downing Street announced on Monday night. The PM was given oxygen before being taken to ICU – but he is understood not to have needed to be put on a ventilator, according to the BBC. Johnson asked Dominic Raab – also first secretary of state – to deputise “where necessary”, the PM’s spokesman added. No 10 sources said Raab will now lead the day-to-day running of the government’s coronavirus response. It came as Monday’s figures offered some hope. There were 439 deaths from the virus reported, the lowest for almost a week. The number of new cases, 3,802, was around 2,000 less than Sunday’s total. Leading the latest briefing, Raab said it was too early to consider an exit strategy for the lockdown. He also confirmed the Foreign Office had brought home 20,000 British travellers from Spain, 13,000 from Egypt and another 8,000 from Indonesia.

ED’S RED RETURN: Labour leader Keir Starmer described last night’s development as “terribly sad news”. He also sent his well wishes to Labour MP Tony Lloyd after the shadow Northern Ireland secretary was admitted to hospital with the coronavirus. The 70-year-old member for Rochdale is “stable and responding to treatment” at Manchester Royal Infirmary, his family said. Monday’s biggest shadow cabinet appointment saw Ed Miliband return to the frontbench as shadow business secretary. The man who led the party for five years said he was “looking forward to serving” and added: “We cannot go back to business as usual after this crisis.” Emily Thornberry, one of Starmer’s early rivals for the leadership, becomes shadow international trade secretary. David Lammy was made shadow justice secretary, John Healey appointed shadow defence secretary, and Jonathan Reynolds is now shadow work and pensions secretary.

PARKLIFE GOES ON: The debate over the proper observance of social distancing rules rages on, with communities secretary Robert Jenrick telling councils the closing of parks should be an “absolute last resort”. It follows health secretary Matt Hancock’s suggested outdoor exercise could be banned if guidelines continued. Jenrick said the “vast majority” of people were doing the right thing, but warned: “The small minority who are not doing so, please don’t spoil things for everybody else.” Green MP Caroline Lucas said golf courses should now be opened up to the public. “It’s surely common sense to create as much open space as possible,” she said. Labour MP Harriet Harman – who suggested councils in crowded urban areas should consider a rota system – described golf course access as a “good idea”. Elsewhere, some members of the 750,000-strong “volunteer army” supporting the NHS will get their first tasks today, including delivering medicines and driving patients to appointments.

SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP: Describing Johnson as a “really good friend” and “something very special”, Donald Trump told reporters he had asked US companies working on drugs to treat Covid-19 to offer the PM’s team any help they can. The president has suggested the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine could be a potential “game-changer”, but its effectiveness remains unknown. Trump said he had a “warm” and “wonderful” conversation with rival Joe Biden, and a less friendly one with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. The president said he may have to “retaliate” if India denied his request to send more hydroxychloroquine to the US. “I said we’d appreciate your allowing our supply to come out. If he doesn’t allow it to come out, that would be okay, but of course there may be retaliation.” The US saw 1,150 deaths from virus during a 24-hour period, according to Johns Hopkins University.

RESPECTING THE RULES: Some grim news from France, where the health authorities reported 833 deaths from the virus on Monday – the country’s highest daily toll since the outbreak began. “We have not yet reached the end of the ascent of this epidemic,” said the French health minister Olivier Veran said. The country’s interior minister Christophe Castaner praised the French people, claiming they were among the best in the world at “respecting” strict lockdown rules. He revealed nearly 480,000 fines had been handed out after 8.2 million checks by the police. In Italy, the latest coronavirus figures proved a deflating setback. The country had experience a steady fall in the daily death toll in recent days, but on Monday there were 636 deaths reported – a rise of over 100 from Sunday’s total. Mercifully, the rate of new infections in Italy is still slowing.

LOCKDOWN LATEST: New Zealand’s health minister has described himself as an “idiot” after breaching lockdown measures. David Clark drove about 12 miles to the beach resort to take a walk with his family. “I understand why people will be angry with me,” he said. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern said Clark would be stripped of his role as a finance minister and demoted to the bottom of the cabinet rankings. In Japan, the government is expected to announce state of emergency measures today. Capital Tokyo and six other cities are set to be moved into a move severe form of lockdown for the next month to stem a worrying rise in new coronavirus infections. Meanwhile in Sweden, Stefan Lofven’s government has asked parliament to give it additional powers, signalling the country – criticised for its laissez-faire approach to the crisis – could finally be moving towards stricter social distancing.

On the record

“Americans are all praying for his recovery. He’s been a really good friend.”

Donald Trump sends a message of support to the PM.

From the Twitterati

“I send all my support to Boris Johnson, to his family and to the British people at this difficult moment. I wish him a speedy recovery at this testing time.”

French president Emmanuel Macron offers best wishes to the PM...

“To my dear friend @BorisJohnson, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, as you fight for a swift recovery. The people of Japan stand with the British people at this difficult time.”

…as does Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.