the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
has been admitted to intensive care with
those persistent symptoms of coronavirus
so just breaking news coming into us
within the past few seconds the Prime
Minister has been under the care of
doctors in a hospital in London and he
is being now admitted into intensive
care with those persistent symptoms of
coronavirus he has been in hospital
since Sunday evening we were expecting
him to say stay in the hospital for a
second night in this hospital st.
Thomas's Hospital but we heard earlier
on from his tweet that he was doing well
and we heard also from Dominic Robb
earlier on that he was in still very
much in charge of what was happening now
Laura Kunz Berg our political editor
joins me live on the line now Laura a
very worrying development now about the
British prime minister
hello castle yes just in the last few
minutes it's been and we've had an
official statement from Downing Street
after very very little information
through the day that at around 7 o'clock
tonight as I understand that the Prime
Minister was taken to intensive care the
statement makes clear that he had you
know is he's receiving excellent care
and he wants to thank all the people at
the NHS but something important has
changed and that he's now in intensive
care
rather than being looked for I looked
after by medics and he's felt it
necessary to ask the Foreign Secretary
Dominick Robb to deputize for him where
needs be now that's a completely
different message to what we've had in
the last sort of 18 hours or so where it
was continually the Prime Minister's in
touch he's still in charge everything is
sort of bored with almost it's business
as usual clearly now the Prime Minister
being intensive care changes everything
his condition as I understand it
worsened over the course of this
afternoon he's still conscious we're
told but he's been moved to intensive
care
as a precaution in case he requires
ventilation as necessary to get through
the filner
really difficult news to hear Laura we
heard your question actually earlier on
during that daily press briefing and you
asked whether if the Prime Minister
whether if he was not well enough to
come out of hospital was he well enough
to govern the country as you were saying
the government very much saying that he
was in charge of course that is
absolutely it cannot be sustainable at
this with this latest development well
that's right and the as I say with those
sort of very sporadic small bits of
information that we had through the day
it seems some of the somewhat of a
better vacuums to be honest talking to
people in government who would normally
be quite forthcoming about what was
going on was very very rigid script just
that he was in good spirits and he was
working and you know we're sort of
cracking on as best he could be and he
was said to be in good spirits and that
changed very dramatically in the last at
ten minutes but also for something
slightly more puzzling whereas at the
press conference earlier this afternoon
the foreign secretary said he had spoken
to the prime minister from Saturday now
that seems strange that seems rather odd
given that Dominic Robb was meant to be
taking charge the Prime Minister and the
Prime Minister's continually in touch
clearly at that point the situation was
already getting worse and as we then
laterally discovered just at just after
8 o'clock the Prime Minister has in fact
been moved to intensive care now we know
that from a spokesperson from number 10
that the Prime Minister is receiving
excellent care and they want to pass on
their thanks to all the NHS staff for
their hard work and their dedication and
as you were saying he's been in st.
Thomas's Hospital in London since Sunday
evening of course it's very difficult
difficult situation giving the
seriousness of coronavirus itself but in
terms of the detail of his condition we
we just simply don't know last night
about about 24 hours ago that he had he
was just having routine tests and I but
we've struggled to get dentistry to tell
us through the day what those tests were
for you know it's been more than 10 days
11 days that he's had persistence and
with Colonel Harrison high-temperature
and a persistent call all we know at the
moment is that his condition worsened
over the course of this afternoon
therefore this decision has been made as
a precaution to him being in intensive
care tonight so clearly very serious
situation for the prime minister's an
extreme emphasizes this bill is a
precaution but it's a huge moment I mean
when you take it's a spittle last night
that was obviously a real milestone and
that this the way this whole crisis has
unfolded and you know so many people who
weren't right in the heart of government
has been hit by this but to have the
Prime Minister in intensive care at a
time when the country is trying to
respond to an emergency the government
is trying to get through an emergency
for the nation's health and the economy
it really is a worrying development and
I think something that will come as a
surprise I was talking to the cabinet
ministers about this this morning and
after them sounded quite relaxed once in
a while glad you'd want to go and have
the total wreck it's been a bit like an
alpha male and she refused to stop
working where this obviously is a very
different situation that extremely
different situation Laura we see and you
talk about him continuously working just
six hours ago I'm just on his Twitter
feed he was tweeting about the advice
last night on the advice of my doctor
Boris Johnson tweeted I went into
hospital for some routine tests I'm
still experiencing coronavirus symptoms
I'm in good spirits and keeping in touch
with my team as we work together to
fight this virus and keep everyone safe
so only six hours ago was he very much
keeping everybody up-to-date as he has
been over the few days when we initially
heard about his symptoms with those
little video messages what we're
watching now from a couple of days ago
so very difficult now to understand that
he is now in intensive care for anybody
just joining us just to restate that
Boris Johnson the British prime minister
has been admitted into intensive care
a spokesperson for number 10 saying that
he is receiving excellent care and
passing on thanks to all the NHS staff
for their hard work and their day
dedication but Laura this for the United
Kingdom we heard the Queen making a
statements of the nation just yesterday
this will be this is a devastating blow
it's certainly a very sad turn in all of
this of course and rather an unexpected
one and we will just have to see in the
coming days I mean you know Downing
Street firm tonight this has happened as
a precaution it doesn't you know being
more than necessarily then they've said
that they've moved him in orders that if
he requires ventilation as the as his
condition progresses he's in the right
place to do that but it obviously is a
very serious moment and we you know we
don't know comes next
other than the Prime Minister is asked
Dominick Rob the secretary actually took
definite ID to Hindi I'm giving up any
sort of pretends that he's somehow were
able to mind the shop when he's backing
the filming and we heard Dominick Rob
take on this daily press statement that
we're seeing every day now since since
lockdown we're seeing these daily press
conferences Dominick Rob gave his today
I know you were you posed the first
question in this daily press conference
and he wants to show that the Prime
Minister was very much in control that
situation will inevitably change but
Dominick Rob now the man at the helm of
the British government for the time
being and Dominic grab you as the
official titles or justice or sexually
but as first secretary of state max in
the UK that means someone's basically as
a sort of space factor and deputy and
they're like the official understudy for
him obviously this is also a huge moment
he already this morning chaired the
coronavirus daily sort of emergency
meeting that they've been holding every
morning at 9:15 but at that point it
really doesn't seem as if he would
actually be taking on some of the roles
know there was some chatter this
afternoon amongst Tory MPs that I was
talking to who were unhappy that the
Prime Minister wasn't stepping back
further in an order actually to get
better and now of course that choice has
actually been taken out of his hands so
when it comes to the way that because
it's important to stress that we don't
have a Deputy Prime Minister in this
country as you were outline
the the role of Dominic Rob but we Boris
Johnson didn't choose a deputy so that I
guess open it shows how in control he
was and wanted to be seen to be but in a
situation like this it complicates what
is already a terribly complicated
situation yes although in the UK it
doesn't always work you know there isn't
sort of strictly speaking there isn't a
vice-president role or anything like
that there tends to be somebody who sort
of act as if we'd call this sort of
state factor p.m. there is that rather
grand sounding title the first secretary
of state somebody who is able to
deputize in particular circumstances
that Prime Minister's Questions for
example you're right it is a sort of
quirk of British you know British
politics but there isn't this sort of a
special deputy position in the way that
there is in other countries and Laura of
course we are just hearing the this that
this hearing within just the past few
moments in fact that we're coming to
terms with it the fact that the British
prime minister Boris Johnson has been
taken into intensive care in hospital
with coronavirus the foreign secretary
Dominic Rob now deputizing for him just
even hours before Boris Johnson tweeting
that his spirits were up when it comes
to what we know it's very limited in
terms of his condition he wasn't looking
fantastic during the Thursday night's
clap for the NHS and it sounds well he
was someone was saying that he wasn't
looking great he was looking a little
bit tired but he did come out and clap
the care workers the NHS work is very
much doing his part to keep morale up
yes and the premise that was still
popping up to try to sort of have a
glimpse of being seen publicly but as
you say it was perfectly clear in those
brief glimpses that he had been
struggling to shake this illness off
that he was working from an isolation
cell five summation in the flat in
Downing Street where he was clearing
meetings by a video link but now staying
at home in Downing Street with being
looked after and trying to rest up there
clearly not enough for the way that the
illness has progressed for him in the
last few days
Lawrenceburg our political editor thank
you so much