Boris Johnson's illness is a message to us all about the true nature of coronavirus | Martin Kettle

Nothing that has happened so far brings home more clearly that we are in a collective struggle

Boris Johnson’s move last night into intensive care in London’s St Thomas’ hospital marks a turning point in Britain’s national Covid-19 crisis. On one level it is just one more personal crisis for another of the more than 1.3 million human victims of the virus around the world. But on another level it is much more than that, and its full significance for Britain has not yet been properly understood.

The incapacity of any prime minister at any time always throws a government machine into confusion. That’s no different in the case of Johnson’s sickness than in the many previous cases in British history in which other prime ministers have been afflicted by illness or the need for surgery. But the machine will adapt. It’s what government machines do.

Related: PM's move to ICU shows he's likely to have severe Covid-19

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