The problem that there is no written constitution here: and in cases like these, you can surf on sight. Not like in the United States, where the vice president takes over from the president and assumes all powers, including the nuclear case: even when Boris got sick, there was confusion as to who should take his place, with Michael Gove, who he leads the government’s administrative machine, which claimed that he should take over. In the end it fell to Rahab, but in reality the prerogatives of the premier are spread among the various ministers and therefore the decisions must be collegial.
And herein lies the dilemma. Why the executive divided on how to proceed in the face of the pandemic: on the one hand there is the Minister of Health, Matt Hancock, who does not want to go down in history as the one that caused hundreds of thousands of deaths; on the other there is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, who does not want to preside over the sinking of the economy. But a decision must be made soon, because the lockdown expires on Monday: who will take responsibility for extending it? And for how long? And who would like to start the reopening of the country, which was now being discussed concretely? Without Boris’ authority to settle matters, risk inaction and chaos. And if Johnson doesn’t get well soon, he’ll have to replace him. The government (and perhaps the conservative parliamentary group) will have to appoint an interim premier, who will go to the queen to get the job: and not necessarily that it is automatically Rahab. Indeed, the foreign minister is not held in high regard by many colleagues. After that, there should be a run for leadership within the conservative party to elect a new leader (and prime minister). But imagining such a scenario in the midst of a pandemic is rather a nightmare.
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