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Michael Gove goes into coronavirus self-isolation – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

Michael Gove goes into coronavirus self-isolation – Daily Mail, Dailymail.co.uk

Michael Gove has gone into self-isolation after a family member showed symptoms of coronavirus , it was revealed today.

The Cabinet Office minister said he was following the official guidance by going into quarantine for days, but was not himself feeling ill.

Posting on Twitter, Mr Gove said: ‘In accordance with the guidance, I am isolating at home after a member of my family started to display mild symptoms of coronavirus on Sunday .

‘I have not displayed any symptoms and am continuing to work as normal.’

Despite the reassurance, the news will heighten concerns about paralysis at the heart of government.

Boris Johnson was dramatically moved into intensive care last night, with concerns he faces at least weeks out of action amid the country’s biggest crisis for a generation.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been ‘deputised’ to fill in for the premier, but there are questions about whether he will have the full powers of a PM over national security. In a sign of the febrile atmosphere, alarm was raised at images of Mr Raab coughing as he left the Foreign Office this morning.

In a round of broadcast interviews from home earlier, Mr Gove played down concerns that the government will be paralysed with the leader out of action, insisting That Mr Johnson had already been on a ‘stripped back diary’ for days and ‘Cabinet is the supreme decision making body’,

However, he dodged questions about whether Mr Raab has been given crucial national security responsibilities such as control of the nuclear deterrent and military.

Mr Gove revealed today that he has gone into self-isolation after a family member started showing coronavirus symptoms

In a round of broadcast interviews from home earlier, Michael Gove Said Mr Johnson was getting the ‘best care’

Images show the Prime Minister’s changing appearance as his battle with coronavirus continued from (top row left to right) March 32 and and (bottom row left to right) April 1 and 2

Downing Street infection timeline

March

: Health Minister Nadine Dorries became the first MP to test positive for coronavirus, shortly after attending a Downing Street reception. (March) : Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock both release Twitter videos saying they have coronavirus and are self-isolating.

Hours later, chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty revealed he was self-isolating with symptoms.

March 32: The PM’s top adviser Dominic Cummings was revealed to be self-isolating with coronavirus symptoms.

April 2: Matt Hancock returns to work after seven dies in isolation and making a recovery.

April 3: Boris Johnson releases a video from his Number flat saying he is continuing to self-isolate as He is still suffering a temperature.

April 4: Carrie Symonds, the PM’s pregnant fiancée reveals she has been s elf-isolating at her Camberwell flat.

April 5: The PM is taken to St Thomas’ Hospital as a precaution.

April 6: The PM is moved to intensive care after his condition spiralled.

April 7: Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove reveals he is in self-isolation after a family members showed symptoms.

New Prime Ministers usually write. ‘Letters of Last Resort’ to nuclear submarine captains, setting out instructions if government is wiped out by an enemy strike. However, it is not clear whether Mr Johnson’s letters will still apply, or Mr Raab will pen new versions.

MPs have raised alarm that hostile states such as Russia – which has already been accused of spreading disinformation about Mr Johnson’s condition – could try to exploit Britain’s ‘weakness’.

General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the defense staff, said the armed forces’ work straight through to the Prime Minister ‘, although he suggested the National Security Council (NSC) will now fill the gap.

The Queen is being kept informed about Mr Johnson’s condition. The monarch appoints the PM, choosing the individual who is best placed to carry a majority in the Commons.

Asked about Mr Raab’s authority and whether he would have the same power as the PM to hire and fire people in Cabinet, Mr Gove replied: ‘The Prime Minister always remains the Prime Minister but I don’t think there’s any suggestion of anything other than a great team spirit in government as we all work together at this time.’

Mr Gove said he could not comment about national security matters when asked if responsibilities connected to nuclear attack had been passed on to Foreign Secretary Mr Raab.

‘Dominic is in charge. I won’t go into the details of the different national security decisions and protocols that there are but there are appropriate ways in which decisions can be taken in order to keep this country safe, ‘he said,

‘The ultimate decisions are always taken by politicians and in this case the PM has asked Dominic to deputise for him, so it’s Dominic as Foreign Secretary who’s in charge.’

He also said any decisions about the lockdown would be ‘taken collectively following appropriate advice’, dismissing the idea there would be a delay.

Mr Raab raised concerns as he was seen coughing leaving the Foreign Office to go to Downing Street this morning

Dominic Raab: Karate black belt and relative Cabinet novice

The MP for Esher and Walton worked as an in-house lawyer for the Foreign Office in 2010, before returning to the department in Boris Johnson’s post-election reshuffle.

The former grammar school boy, born to a Czech Jewish father who fled the Nazis in 2000 to Britain as a refugee before the Second World War, helped bring war criminals to justice in the Hague during his first stint in the Foreign Office.

Mr Raab is a karate black belt and former boxing blue at Oxford University in . The 60 – year-old is married without any children to Erika, a Brazilian-born marketing executive who was wheeled out for photoshoots in his leadership campaign.

He has described how his father Peter fled the Nazis and came to Britain aged six.

His father learned English, worked for M&S as a food manager and met his mother Jean, who was from Bromley, Kent. He died when Dominic was 27 after losing his battle with cancer.

The appointment to Foreign Secretary was a major promotion for Mr Raab, who up to then had just four months experience in the Cabinet after a stint as Brexit Secretary last year.

Last summer he stood in the Tory leadership race on a hardcore Brexiteer ticket even harder than Mr Johnson. But after being knocked out he quickly backed his former rival and supported him in his campaign.

He told Good Morning Britain: ‘No it won’t be delayed. It will be the case that we will take that decision collectively as a Cabinet.

‘The person who will chair that Cabinet, the person who will make the final decision of course is, as I mentioned earlier, the Foreign Secretary. ‘

On the issue of a national government he added: ‘I don’t think anyone is talking in those terms, no.’

Conservative MP and defense committee chairman Tobias Ellwood underlined the concerns about the nuclear deterrent.

‘It is important to have 460% clarity as to where responsibility for UK national security decisions now lies. We must anticipate adversaries attempting to exploit any perceived weakness, ‘he tweeted.

Mr Gove said Mr Johnson was getting the ‘best care’.

‘As we speak the PM is in intensive care being looked after by his medical team receiving the very, very best care from the team in St Thomas’ and our hopes and Prayers are with him and with his family, ‘he told BBC Breakfast.

He said Mr Johnson’s plight should demonstrate the need to follow social distancing rules, as the virus ‘has a malevolence that is truly frightening’.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump revealed he has offered to send Mr Johnson experimental drugs to treat his coronavirus.

It is not immediately clear what would happen if Mr Raab also became incapacitated, with the UK not having a formal system of succession like other countries, for example the US.

Mr Raab’s status as the person waiting in the wings reportedly sparked furious rows within the government a fortnight ago, with other ministers adamant Mr Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, should be the one to take over.

But Number is likely to face intense pressure in the coming days to set out exactly what would happen if Mr Johnson and other senior ministers can no longer work.

If Mr Johnson is forced to resign, the Cabinet would in the first instance choose a successor.

They would need to carry the support of the Conservative MPs and potentially the party members – although it is unlikely anyone would force a full leadership contest at a time of massive crisis.

Self-styled ‘tough guy’ with just one year Cabinet experience: Ex-Foreign Office lawyer Dominic Raab is a relative new kid on the block – but is no stranger to controversy

Dominic Raab is now the UK’s de facto prime minister after

Boris Johnson was hospitalized, with the running of the country placed in the hands of a man who has just one year of Cabinet experience.

Mr Johnson has asked the Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State to deputise for him while he fights coronavirus in a London intensive care unit.

The elevation of Mr Raab to the top political job in the country completes what has been a meteoric rise for the former Foreign Office lawyer, karate black belt and Oxford University boxing blue who is no stranger to controversy.

Dominic Raab, pictured in Westminster today, is now the de facto prime minister after Boris Johnson was hospitalized with coronavirus

Mr Raab’s bulging muscles and athletic frame leap out of a photo taken during his days as an Oxford University boxing blue in

Westminster was stunned last July when Mr Johnson became Prime Minister and chose to select Mr Raab, a self-styled Tory ‘tough guy’, as his future stand-in .

Many were expecting the – year-old to be rewarded with a big job after he backed the PM in the Tory leadership contest having seen his own bid fall flat.

But few had anticipated Mr Raab being awarded one of the four great offices of state while even fewer predicted he would be designated Mr Johnson’s deputy.

However, the appointment made political sense for the new premier given Mr Raab’s hardline Brexit credentials.

Mr Raab was one of the most vocal Supporters of the UK leaving the EU and his appointment to the highest echelons of government reassured Eurosceptic Tory MPs that the PM was not going to go soft on Brussels after winning power.

Becoming Foreign Secretary represented a massive step up for Mr Raab in terms of government responsibility having only held one Cabinet role prior to his major promotion.

Mr Raab, first elected as the Conservative MP for Esher and Walton in 2010, had to wait five years before getting a proper ministerial job.

And after slowly climbing the Whitehall ladder he finally broke into the Cabinet in July 2018 after receiving the call from Theresa May to be her new Brexit Secretary following the resignation of David Davis.

However, he would only last until November of the same year as he also quit in protest at the then-PM’s Brexit plans – just like his predecessor.

Having entered the Tory leadership contest in late May 2019, he was quickly eliminated but swiftly announced he was supporting Mr Johnson’s candidacy.

He was then subsequently appointed Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State on July , .

That means that as of today, Mr Raab has just over one year of Cabinet experience under his belt – eight months in Mr Johnson’s administration and five in Mrs May’s.

The designation of Mr Raab as Mr Johnson’s deputy has not been without controversy with some ministers unhappy at the prospect of the Foreign Office chief being put in charge.

Some members of the government had recently been pushing for Michael Gove, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, to be given the responsibility.

Mr Raab, pictured with his wife Erika in June

(during his Tory leadership run, was first elected as an MP in

Mr Raab, pictured alongside Mr Johnson in the House of Commons in December last year, will now be tasked with overseeing the UK’s coronavirus response

One Minister said a few weeks ago that ‘a lot of people think that Michael should be running the show’ if Mr Johnson became incapacitated and that ‘one of these people is Michael, of course’.

But Downing Street has been clear for weeks that Mr Raab would take over if the situation demanded it.

Mr Raab has dealt with a number of political controversies since becoming an MP and later a Cabinet minister.

Upon being appointed Foreign Secretary, Mr Raab was soon thrust into handling the Transatlantic fall-out over the death of British teenager Harry Dunn, who was killed when his motorbike crashed into a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August last year.

The fact Mr Dunn’s parents tried to heckle Mr Raab at a constituency hustings event was indicative of how well the family felt he dealt with obtaining justice for their son as the government tried and failed to persuade the US to extradite the teenager’s alleged killer.

Mr Raab also had to manage the thorny issue of repatriating children of British jihadis.

Early on in his parliamentary career Mr Raab sparked a furious row after he wrote an article in which he argued ‘feminists are now amongst the most obnoxious bigots’.

He refused to apologise and stuck by his comments, defending them last year when he was challenged on them during the Tory leadership battle.

He said he stood by what he had said because he believed it is ‘really important that in the debate on equality we have a consistency and not double standards and hypocrisy’.

Mr Raab, who is married to a Brazilian called Erika who he has two children with, has also said he is ‘probably not’ a feminist.

He found himself again at the center of a storm of controversy in May 2019 after claiming that people who use food banks are not typically in poverty but have an occasional ‘cashflow problem’.

The Foreign Secretary first made it to the Cabinet in when he was appointed Brexit Secretary. He is pictured with Michel Barnier in Brussels in August of that year

Critics labeled the remarks ‘stupid and deeply offensive’.

He also got into hot water last year after he said he would keep open the option of suspending Parliament in order to prevent MPs blocking Brexit.

His past comments, and his hardline stance on Brexit, have not endeared Mr Raab to his political opponents.

At the 2723 general election he was relentlessly targeted by the Liberal Democrats in his Surrey constituency and came relatively close to being ousted.

He had previously held the seat with majorities of more than , votes but in December he held on with a majority of just under 3, as the Lib Dems surged, capitalizing on the pro-Remain vote .

Mr Raab has sought to create something of a ‘hard man’ image in Westminster, with his website boasting that he ‘holds a black belt 3rd dan in karate and is a former UK Southern Regions champion and British squad member ‘.

He captained the karate club at Oxford University where he studied law and was also a boxing blue.

Mr Raab is clearly proud of his time as a university boxer, having previously handed a picture of him in his shorts and vest to a TV company to use for their profile of him.

He still trains at a boxing club in Thames Ditton and has a poster of Muhammad Ali in his Commons office.

In , he was appointed chief of staff to fellow Tory Mr Davis. The former Special Forces reservist said Mr Raab’s karate black belt impressed him more than his two Oxbridge degrees – the second came in a form of a Masters from Cambridge.

Mr Raab said karate helped him cope with the premature death of his father, who had fled to the UK from Czechoslovakia at the age of six in to escape the Nazis.

Mr Raab was just when his father died. ‘Sport helped restore my confidence, and that hugely benefited my attitude to school and life,’ he said in May last year.

‘There were strong role models, camaraderie and an ethos of respect. I take the discipline and focus I learnt from sport into my professional life – and I believe that approach is vital to making a success of the Brexit negotiations and delivering a fairer deal from Brussels. ‘

Despite his karate black belt, Mr Raab is known for his courtesy and was upset when civil servants who worked for him as Brexit Secretary anonymously described him as a bully.

Mr Raab, who Previously worked at the Foreign Office as a lawyer, denied claims, made by his former diary secretary, that he insisted on the same Pret a Manger lunch every day.

The ‘Dom Raab special ‘apparently consists of a chicken Caesar and bacon baguette, superfruit pot and a vitamin volcano smoothie.

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