From Churchill to Blair, how Westminster has dealt with a prime minister falling ill

Boris Johnson’s admission to hospital while resident of 10 Downing Street is certainly uncommon, but far from unprecedented, writes Sean O'Grady

Churchill kept a serious stroke under wraps in his second term (Getty)

A prime minister incapacitated, his closest lieutenant and heir apparent himself ill and unable to take over, confusion at the heart of the British government, a cover-up of the premier’s true condition?

Well, it has happened, albeit in rather easier times than these, and it demonstrates both how administrative life goes on, and how often Whitehall and Westminster have faced such challenges before. More often than not the machine has muddled through, which is perhaps reassurance of sorts.

The story is Winston Churchill’s and it begins on the evening of Tuesday 23 June 1953. A few weeks after the coronation of the Queen her first prime minister was enjoying his Indian summer as a peacetime premier. He and colleagues had been entertaining the prime minister of Italy and his delegation in the usual style. At the end of the evening some noticed that the prime minister was not talking in his usual expansive manner, and his left arm felt limp. Some at the party put it down to the generous hospitality but when Churchill’s doctor eventually attended him in the morning it was clear that the old man (79 years of age) had suffered a major stroke. This was on top of a series of cardiac “events” stretching back to 1941, and his doctor, Lord Moran, thought he would die by the weekend.