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Covid-19 update: Will Boris take paternity leave?

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  • Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have announced the arrival of a baby boy, born this morning in a London hospital. James Forsyth has the details below.
  • Cancer operations will take place at new ‘Covid-19-free’ hubs. The collapse in cancer care since the lockdown could lead to 18,000 more cancer deaths, according to new research. Analysis below.
  • Millions more people can now apply for a coronavirus test. The government loosened rules to include over-65s, essential workers and care home residents.
  • Hopes for a successful Covid-19 vaccine have been raised by a study showing that the virus’s mutations are, so far, minor.
  • The government has eased its fifth rule for lifting the lockdown. The criterion is now to avoid a second peak that could overwhelm the NHS.
  • The number of people to be classed as ‘vulnerable’ to Covid-19 will increase by 500,000.
  • Environment Secretary George Eustice has said that the UK may be on course for the worst death toll in Europe.
  • The Queen will give her second televised address during the pandemic on 8 May. The monarch will commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
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Will Boris take paternity leave?
by James Forsyth

Earlier this month Boris Johnson was in hospital fighting for his life. This morning he was there for the arrival of new life: his partner Carrie Symonds gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

David Cameron took paternity leave when his daughter Florence was born in 2010 and Tony Blair took a ‘paternity holiday’ when his son Leo arrived in 2000. But the timing of this birth, in the middle of a national crisis, undoubtedly complicates the question of Prime Ministerial paternity leave. This is particularly the case given that Boris’s rapid return to Downing Street post-hospitalisation was driven, in part, by frustration that things weren’t happening at what he thought was the necessary pace in his absence.

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