CNN:
Johnson, 55, nominated the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, who also holds the title of First Secretary of State, to deputize for him “where necessary.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been receiving oxygen treatment for coronavirus in intensive care, a senior member of the Cabinet confirmed.Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said in an interview with the BBC that the Prime Minister was “not on a ventilator” but had “received oxygen support.”
Johnson’s hospitalization has highlighted the lack of a formal line of succession in the UK government. Johnson, 55, nominated the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, who also holds the title of First Secretary of State, to deputize for him “where necessary.”
But the is no official deputy recognized by UK law or the country’s largely unwritten constitution. Few formal powers are invested specifically in the UK prime minister and key decisions are taken collectively by the Cabinet or its sub-committees.
Many statutory powers are held by individual secretaries of state. But in recent decades, holders of the UK’s top political office have adopted a more presidential style, and the sweeping nature of the ruling Conservative Party’s most recent election victory was attributed to Johnson’s personal appeal with voters.
