Sam Knight is a staff writer at The New Yorker based in London. He has profiled the British politicians Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, and Sadiq Khan for the magazine, and has written about dressage, art fraud, and reality television gone wrong. His story “Follow the White Ball,” a profile of the snooker player Ronnie O’Sullivan, was anthologized in the 2016 edition of “The Best American Sports Writing.” He writes a fortnightly column for newyorker.com, Letter from the U.K. Previously, Knight was a contributing writer for the Guardian’s The Long Read, and his work has appeared in the Financial Times, Grantland, and Harper’s.
If, as seems likely, the British leader requires more invasive or long-term treatment, there will be pressure to formally appoint an acting Prime Minister to serve in his place.