Boris Johnson is back: but has he changed?

Few signs yet that PM’s coronavirus illness and new baby have made him a different leader

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It was a low-key comeback. After a week in hospital, and two more spent recuperating at Chequers, the prime minister’s official country residence, Boris Johnson arrived at Downing Street last weekend in an inconspicuous Volkswagen mini-van. He slipped inside. There was no victory sign or cheerful wave.

For an unprecedented period, the prime minister had been missing. He was either laid low from his coronavirus symptoms, in intensive care in St Thomas’ hospital in Westminster, or recovering from what the tabloids called his “brush with death”. It was clear that few major government decisions had been made in Johnson’s long absence.

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