UK PM Put Under General Anaesthetic for ‘Routine’ Surgery

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was anesthetised for a “routine” operation on his sinuses Monday morning, leaving the Deputy Prime Minister briefly at the helm of the government.

Boris Johnson underwent what a spokesman called a “routine”, “very minor” surgery on his sinuses Monday morning, for which he was placed under general anaesthesia, necessitating Secretary of State for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab to step up and take the political helm of the nation.

While Boris Johnson is now out of hospital and at his official London residence, Downing Street, to recover Dominic Raab will remain the effective acting Prime Minister for around 24 hours while Johnson recovers, The Sun reports.

In all, the Prime Minister was unconscious for a “relatively brief period of time” and the surgery was scheduled in advance.

The circumstances surrounding the UK Prime Minister’s surgery today echo, in some regards, his admission to a London hospital in 2020 for Coronavirus. Dominic Raab deputized for the Prime Minister then too, but for a lengthy 20 days rather than the 24 hours suggested today.

While Boris Johnson was initially admitted to St Thomas’ hospital, directly over the river from the Houses of Parliament in central London, in April 2020 it was for “tests” following his positive test for coronavirus ten days before. Things quickly escalated, however, when the Prime Minister was placed in intensive care.

After days in the intensive care unit, the Prime Minister was eventually said to be stable and responding well to treatment before he was released to convalesce at the grace and favour country estate owned by the British government for the Prime Minister of the day, Chequers.

It has been since widely reported that Johnson attributed his unusually bad coronavirus infection for a man of his age to his high weight, leading him to move away from his once-perceived hands-off approach to become more interventionist in other people’s health and life choices.