Boris recovering after surgery on his nose, No10 reveals as Raab becomes temporary PM

20 June 2022, 12:35 | Updated: 20 June 2022, 16:22

Boris Johnson has undergone surgery on his nose and any "significant decisions" will be deferred to the deputy prime minister Dominic Raab.

The Prime Minister had a minor routine operation under general aesthetic in London on Monday morning.

Downing Street confirmed later that Mr Johnson is "feeling well" following a minor sinus operation and was due to take meetings this afternoon.

The operation "went well" and the PM is "pleased to be back in No 10", a spokesman added. He will chair a meeting of his Cabinet on Tuesday morning.

It is understood Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab remains on hand to assist with any major decisions, in line with the general advice to the public on not making significant choices for the first 24 hours after undergoing general anaesthesia.

However, Mr Johnson remains Prime Minister and will continue acting as such, No 10 said.

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"He went to hospital around 6am and the operation was carried out first thing this morning," a spokesman said earlier.

"He was back in Downing Street shortly after 10am."

The operation was on the NHS and was scheduled "for a while", he said, without specifying at which hospital it took place.

Mr Johnson's sinus issue was not understood to be related to his Covid illness in 2020.

Asked how the Prime Minister was feeling, the spokesman said he had not spoken to him since his return to Downing Street but that he was resting at home.

The timing of Mr Johnson's return to work will depend on how he feels, but he is planning to chair Tuesday morning's Cabinet meeting.

Asked who was in charge of the UK nuclear accounts during the procedure, the spokesperson said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case were aware in advance and that Mr Johnson was under for a "relatively brief time".

He said: "Operationally, my understanding is there's a 24-hour period from when the operation takes place ... under which sort of significant decisions would be deferred to probably in the first instance the Deputy Prime Minister.

"Now we're not anticipating any of that being required currently, but we do have that capability."

The PM's minor surgery comes a few days after he returned from a second surprise trip to Kyiv, where he visited President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

He faced backlash for pulling out of a Yorkshire meeting of northern Tories to go on the trip.