Wins election, gets engaged, nearly dies, has a baby: Boris Johnson's remarkable six months
Even by a prime minister’s standards, Boris Johnson has experienced an intense six months.
In that period, he won an election, “got Brexit done”, got engaged, nearly died from coronavirus and, on Wednesday morning, became father to a new baby.
Here is a timeline of Johnson’s remarkable past six months.
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31 October
After months of exhausting Brexit deadlock in Parliament, in which Johnson’s government suffers a number of humiliating defeats, the PM finally gets his wish for a snap general election.
6 November onwards
Five weeks of campaigning begins, in which the PM utters the words “get Brexit done” hundreds of times.
Controversies include taking a reporter’s phone and putting it in his pocket after the journalist shows him a picture of a four-year-old boy sleeping on a hospital floor.
He also leads the UK’s response to the London Bridge terror attack, in which Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones are murdered by convicted terrorist Usman Khan.
12 December
Johnson’s Conservatives win a huge majority of 80 in the election, giving the PM authority in the Commons.
20 December
Johnson demonstrates his parliamentary muscle for the first time as the government’s Brexit bill sails through the Commons at its second reading.
31 January
Brexit “gets done” as the UK officially leaves the EU at 11pm. Johnson holds a celebration in Downing Street.
On the same day, however, something happens that is far more significant to the nation’s future. The first two cases of a deadly new illness called coronavirus are recorded in the UK.
2 February
Johnson leads the response to another terror attack, this time in Streatham, south London. A man and a woman are knifed but do not sustain life-threatening injuries.
13 February
In a Cabinet reshuffle calamity, Johnson loses his chancellor, Sajid Javid, who resigns after being told by the PM that he must fire his team of advisers and replace them with Number 10-approved staff. Rishi Sunak is appointed as Javid’s replacement.
18 February
Johnson agrees a divorce settlement with his ex-wife Marina Wheeler.
29 February
Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds announce they are engaged and expecting a baby.
3 March
The number of coronavirus cases is slowly growing, reaching 51.
Johnson, however, tells reporters at a Downing Street press briefing: “I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were coronavirus patients and I was shaking hands with everybody.”
12 March
Nine days later, Johnson warns of “many more” coronavirus deaths as the hospital death toll reaches 12.
23 March
As the hospital death toll continues to accelerate, a grim-faced Johnson imposes a draconian UK-wide lockdown in a Downing Street address to the nation.
27 March
Johnson tests positive for COVID-19 and goes into self-isolation in his flat in Number 11, Downing Street.
5 April
After failing to recover from his symptoms, namely a high fever, Johnson is admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster.
Number 10 insists it is a precautionary measure and that he remains in charge of the government.
6 April
Johnson is admitted to intensive care as his symptoms worsen.
After facing death, his condition improves and he comes out of intensive care on 9 April.
12 April
Johnson leaves hospital and begins two weeks of recovery at Chequers, the PM’s official country residence.
In a deeply personal address to the nation, he says the “NHS has saved my life, no question”.
27 April
Johnson marks his return to work with a speech outside Number 10. On the same day, the government’s official death toll in hospitals reaches 21,092.
29 April
Johnson and Symonds announce the birth of a “healthy baby boy at a London hospital”.