- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
The UK Action Plan 2:52
London (CNN) - Before Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to be transferred to intensive care on Monday night, due to worsening symptoms related to the new coronavirus, he asked his secretary for Foreign Relations and First Secretary of State, Dominic Raab, to replace him "where necessary".
While now is a time of great uncertainty for the British population, Johnson's delivery of some duties to Raab should be relatively smooth and unlikely to affect any immediate government issue.
- While Boris Johnson is "stable" in the ICU, many wonder who runs the UK
Less clear is what will happen if Johnson was disabled for more than a few days. There is no clear plan B in Britain's Constitution or Cabinet Manual that sets the rules for running the government, who should take over if Johnson can't lead the country, experts told Reuters.
One thing should help in terms of continuity: unlike the United States, where a president may come from a different party than the leaders of Congress, the British government is made up entirely of members of Parliament from Johnson's party, which won the majority of seats in the December elections, which means it operates as a single entity.
Dominic Raab, UK Foreign Secretary, leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on April 6, 2020. (Credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP via Getty Images)
An ardent supporter of Brexit
Raab, a 46-year-old former lawyer, was elected to Parliament in 2010, and spent his entire political career in the same wing of the party that secretly yearned for Johnson to take the reins.
Like Johnson, Raab is a longtime Brexit advocate and was willing to be a thorn in his own party's side when he had more pro-European leadership.
Despite his Eurosceptic leanings, his qualities were noted by that pro-European leadership, and when then-Prime Minister David Cameron won reelection in 2015, Raab was offered a job in government. At the time, Raab was seen as a rising star within the party, and his promotion was seen as a way for Cameron to reinforce his own Eurosceptic credentials.
Raab previously worked in Theresa May's cabinet as Brexit secretary, and resigned in protest at the preliminary agreement the then Prime Minister reached with the European Union. Despite facing Johnson in the internal election for the conservative leadership, last year, he has been remarkably loyal to the prime minister ever since.
While Raab is perhaps less socially liberal than Johnson, he is highly unlikely to drift radically away from the prime minister's agenda in the short term, not only because there simply is not enough time to change government policy during a period of national crisis, but also because the British cabinet works on the principle of collective responsibility.
Boris JohnsonDominic Raab