Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

An acting prime minister needs to be appointed to restore authority to the government

Unless a suitable head of government is found soonest, there will be avoidable loss of life by delayed decision-making and weak leadership and accountability

Andrew Adonis
Saturday 11 April 2020 14:01 BST
Comments
Dominic Raab: ‘I have all the authority I need to make the relevant decisions’ as Boris Johnson in intensive care

When Boris Johnson went into hospital six days ago the leadership of the government went into commission. At any time this would be a serious state of affairs. It is unsustainable and unacceptable in the deepening coronavirus crisis; unless rectified soonest it will lead to avoidable loss of life by delayed decision-making and weak leadership and accountability.

The right course, I suggest, is for an acting prime minister to be appointed this weekend. The acting PM should be appointed prime minister and first lord of the treasury by the Queen with the full powers and duties of the office, on the understanding that they will serve in post for at least a month, possibly longer if Boris Johnson’s full recuperation from his serious illness needs longer.

This way the acting prime minister takes on not only the PM’s full authority and accountability, but is seen to do so and for a sufficient period for the government machine and the public to regard the acting PM as the head of government and key decision-maker in the critical days and weeks ahead.

It is vital to understand the difference between this step – appointing an acting PM for an extended duration with full public accountability – and continuing hand-to-mouth with the existing arrangement whereby the PM remains in post but is more or less incapacitated, while Dominic Raab, as first secretary of state, chairs meetings and takes unavoidable prime ministerial decisions on a day-to-day basis.

The present halfway house, while it meets the strict constitutional requirement for there to be an ultimate decision-maker and chair of the cabinet, is in practice leading to a steadily enlarging vacuum at the heart of government. Planning and decision-making are either stalled or suffering from an alarming lack of confidence and drive. Furthermore, public and parliamentary accountability requires a head of government clearly in charge and accountable.

The daily 5pm press conference, virtually the only means by which the government now communicates with the people, is an alarming exhibition of “government in commission”. When the daily press conference started it was always led by the prime minister. This has not now happened for more than a fortnight. Instead we get a roving cast of ministers – four in the last week alone – each with obviously limited authority, and each beginning with an account of the health of the prime minister, before a presentation limited to their area of responsibility.

In the case of Dominic Raab himself, he is understated and subdued, understandably concerned to ensure that he is not thought to be engaged in a power grab like Alexander Haig in his infamous “I am in control here” broadcast after the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981.

The appointment of an acting PM is the best thing for Boris Johnson and his family. It gives them time to recover and rebuild away from the public eye without the issue of his health being the top question about the government every day. At least a month of guaranteed recuperation time would ensure that the issue of the prime minister’s health and the next crucial stages of dealing with the Covid-19 crisis are not entangled as key decisions are faced on the lockdown, testing and the phased re-opening of the economy.

An acting prime minister would also ensure that, every day, there is a visible, vocal and empowered prime minister on the case of Whitehall departments and ministers in delivering key government commitments to the NHS and to the general public grievously affected by the virus and the shutdown.

An acting PM on these lines would be a constitutional innovation, but one necessitated by the crisis and entirely in accord with the working of our institutions. The only precedent which compares with the present is Churchill’s stroke on 23 June 1953, in his last term as prime minister. His illness was immediately hushed up, by agreement with the main newspaper proprietors, while he slowly recovered at Chequers and R A Butler took day-to-day decisions with the prime minister’s private secretary Jock Colville.

None of those “in the know” regarded this as satisfactory even then, and it was only possible because most of the three months in question were over the summer recess when cabinet and parliament were not meeting. And, for all the decisions not taken in the summer of 1953, there was not then a national emergency of the kind we face today.

How should the acting prime minister be chosen? This is for Boris Johnson, the secretary of the cabinet Sir Mark Sedwill, and the Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young to determine together. It could be on the direct nomination of the prime minister or after a process of rapid consultation with the cabinet, or at any rate its senior members.

The obvious sensitivity here is that Dominic Raab, the existing designated deputy to Boris Johnson, may not be the person best fitted to the job. Whichever course is chosen, the formal “advice” to the Queen as to the acting prime minister would come from Boris Johnson, which would meet the established constitutional principle of the Queen acting on ministerial advice wherever possible.

The strength of the British constitution is supposedly its ability, because it is unwritten in key respects like the incapacity of the prime minister, to adapt to crises with flexibility and urgency. Never was the urgency greater than today.

Lord Adonis was a member of Gordon Brown’s cabinet and head of the Downing Street Policy Unit under Tony Blair

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in