Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab Is ‘Designated Survivor’ If Boris Incapacitated

LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 09: UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab …
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Jack Montgomery

Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary Dominic Raab is the “designated survivor” if Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who been infected by the coronavirus, is incapacitated.

Raab, who also serves as First Secretary of State in Boris Johnson’s administration, is known to have tested negative for coronavirus on two previous occasions.

Prime Minister Johnson is confirmed as having been infected with the disease, although he says he only has “mild symptoms of the coronavirus, that’s to say a temperature and a persistent cough”, and for now he intends to continue, “thanks to the wizardry of modern technology, to communicate with all my top team [and] lead the national fightback against coronavirus” from isolation.

Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, is also confirmed to have been infected, and the Chief Medical Officer is self-isolating with symptoms.

 

The fact that the “designated survivor” role went to Raab, a former Brexit Secretary and noted Leave supporter, is believed to have caused some disquiet in the Cabinet, with allies of Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister who was Johnson’s key partner on the Vote Leave campaign during the EU referendum, believing he should have been given the job.

“If Boris can’t do his job because he is incapacitated, a lot of people think that Michael [Gove] should be running the show, not Raab,” one minister told The Times in comments reported on March 22nd.

“One of these people is Michael, of course,” the minister added dryly.

A second source suggested that ministers were “wrestling like cats in a sack”, with Gove clashing with Hancock, in particular, over which of them should be chief co-ordinator of the coronavirus response.

Besides Raab’s designation as stand-in for the Prime Minister, people have also been designated to fill in for Dominic Cummings, Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister, and Lee Cain, Director of Communications for 10 Downing Street.

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