Nonsense! Boris rubbishes claim he plans to quit in six months
BORIS JOHNSON has dismissed “nonsense” claims that he will quit Downing Street because of ill-health following his battle with coronavirus.
The Prime Minister said he was feeling “far better” than ever after losing more than a stone since his brush with death.
Speculation about the PM’s future was fuelled after Sir Humphry Wakefield, the father-in-law of his senior aide, Dominic Cummings, reportedly said Mr Johnson was struggling with his health and would leave No10 in six months.
But during a visit to Devon, Mr Johnson, who spent time in intensive care with Covid-19 in April, said he was feeling “much better”, partly due to his weight-loss.
The 56-year-old was forced to address questions about his future after Sir Humphry suggested that the Prime Minister was on the way out.
His fitness concerns were apparently discussed with a holidaymaker visiting his Chillingham Castle home in Northumberland, according to reports.
Weight
“If you put a horse back to work when it’s injured it will never recover,” he reportedly said. The diary piece claimed that 84-year-old Sir Humphry, a former British Army soldier and interior designer, “merrily informed her that Boris Johnson is still struggling badly with having had Covid-19 and will stand down in six months”.
But Mr Johnson rubbished the claims when he visited the historic Appledore Shipyard in Devon yesterday which is to reopen after being bought by InfraStrata in a £7million deal.
He told Devon Live: “It’s absolute nonsense. I am feeling, if anything, far better as I’ve lost some weight.
“Not enough, but I have lost at least a stone-and-a-half.”
A Downing Street source said the rumour was “utter nonsense” and they were “baffled by it”.
Mr Johnson was the first major world leader to come down with the virus, and appeared to suffer with it badly.
He spent a week in hospital, including three nights in intensive care, after being admitted on April 5.
During his time in hospital, he received regular oxygen treatment to help with his breathing.
After he was discharged on April 12 he suggested his condition “could have gone either way” and praised the staff at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London for “saving his life”.
He later said his weight had played a
part in why he became so ill and urged the nation to follow him on a health kick.
Mr Johnson, who is 5ft 10in tall and previously weighed 17st, admitted to being “too fat” and “way overweight” when he was struck down by the illness.
Obesity has been flagged up as a major risk factor for the virus.
The Prime Minister has just returned from a week’s holiday in Scotland with partner Carrie, 32, and their newborn son Wilfred.
Pictures showed the leaner-looking PM hiking in the Scottish Highlands carrying Wilfred in a harness strapped to his chest.
Mr Cummings, the PM’s chief adviser, hit the headlines when he was accused of breaking lockdown rules when he and his journalist wife Mary Wakefield, 45, drove from London to Durham.
He has been ridiculed after claiming he took at trip to tourist destination Barnard Castle to “test his eyes”.
Mr Cummings, 48, is understood to have spent the summer convalescing following an operation and is due to return to work on Monday.