Prime Minister Raab? Boris Will Take Paternity Leave This Summer

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 22: Britain's Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State Dom
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Victoria Friedman

Boris Johnson has said that he will “almost certainly” take parental leave when his fiancée Carrie Symonds gives birth in the summer.

Asked during a Downing Street press conference on the government’s coronavirus plans whether he would be taking parental leave, Mr Johnson said: “Almost certainly, yes.”

It has been speculated that foreign secretary Dominic Raab would cover Boris’s leave as prime minister because his dual role as First Secretary of State gives him seniority over other Cabinet ministers; however, No 10 sources speaking to Sky News could not confirm if that would be the case.

Mr Johnson would not be the first prime minister to go on paternity leave, with David Cameron taking a break in 2010 after the birth of his daughter, Florence. William Hague, at the time the First Secretary of State, substituted for Mr Cameron in the House of Commons.

Mr Johnson and Miss Symonds announced on Sunday that they were expecting their first child together.

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