Boris Johnson Is Unwell

He could dodge Jeremy Corbyn. He could dodge Piers Morgan. He could dodge Andrew Neil. But alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson could not dodge the Coronavirus. And the Coronavirus has not only laid him low, it has made him seriously unwell. How unwell he is is now the stuff of speculation, mainly because his own team is incapable of being honest with We The People about his condition.

He had admitted to suffering the symptoms of Covid-19 several days ago, but last Thursday, there he was at the front door of 10 Downing Street, clapping for all those health workers whose contributions to the wellbeing of the UK were somehow overlooked before the pandemic hit. So it was assumed all was well. But it was not.

As the Guardian reported last night,”The Guardian was told last week that Johnson was more seriously ill than either he or his officials were prepared to admit, and that he was being seen by doctors who were concerned about his breathing … But Downing Street flatly denied that the prime minister’s health had seriously deteriorated, and insisted there were no plans at that point for him to be admitted to hospital”.

The report also told “A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘On the advice of his doctor, the prime minister has tonight been admitted to hospital for tests. This is a precautionary step’ … While No 10 did not say what tests Johnson would undergo in hospital, experts said they would be likely to focus on assessing how the prime minister’s lungs, heart and other organs were responding to the virus”. But tests could have been done at No 10.

And Lewis Goodall, now at BBC Newsnight, noted that the Times had yet more ominous news. Their report told “It was understood that he was driven to St Thomas’ Hospital, across the Thames from Westminster, at about 8pm, and given oxygen treatment. He did not need an ambulance. Officials emphasised that it was not an emergency admission. They said that his doctor had wanted him to be assessed in hospital”.

Given that Johnson will be one of those who goes private, he would not have been taken to St Thomas’, an NHS facility, unless there was a degree of urgency involved. He is seriously ill: that much was inadvertently confirmed by Sarah “Vain” Vine wailing “So to all those who have been hysterically shouting ‘where’s Boris, where’s Boris?’ I hope you’re happy now. He’s in hospital. Next thing you know you’ll be complaining that he’s putting extra strain on the NHS by taking up a bed”. He’s clearly in a bad way.

Which begs two questions, one of which has been posed by Mic Wright: “The desire to insist that Boris Johnson can keep running the country while he is unwell is egotistical and counter-productive. What does it say to other people who are ill?” The answer is that he can’t carry on running the country. And that leads to the second question.

As Dominic Minghella put it, “Why do we have to [be] told the PM has gone to hospital ‘for tests’ and only as a ‘precautionary measure’? We all know that is highly unlikely to be the truth. At this time, we badly need truthfulness”. The spin needs to stop, and now.

Someone needs to level with the public. And they need to do it right now.

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