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Change Your Life! |
Prime minister's wife gives birth to baby boy |
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May 21, 2000
LONDON, MAY 20 (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie welcomed their fourth child - a baby boy - on Saturday. The boy will be named Leo, after Blair's father, his office announced.
"He's gorgeous, he's a lovely little kid," Blair told reporters about 12 hours after the birth. "He's been pretty good so far."
Cherie Blair, 45, and the baby were in good health, and all the parents and baby returned to the prime minister's Downing Street residence shortly before 3 a.m. (0200GMT), a spokesman said.
The baby weighed in 6 pounds 12 oz.lbs 12oz (3 kg). Mrs. Blair had been due to give birth on May 24, but was admitted to Chelsea and Westminster hospital in west London at midday Friday.
The prime minister joined her early in the evening. "It was quite a long labor in the end, because it went on quite a few hours and it was quite a struggle ... for Cherie, and I think she's just relieved that it's over," Blair said.
Blair, 46, becomes the first serving British prime minister to father a child in 152 years. Mrs. Blair is a prominent lawyer who practices under her maiden name of Cherie Booth. She and the prime minister have two teenage sons, Euan and Nicholas, and a 12-year-old daughter, Kathyrn.
When the couple announced the pregnancy in November, the prime minister admitted that it had come as a shock.
"I think I said 'you're joking' and she said 'No, I'm not,"' Blair said, adding: "I asked, you know, the usual questions and I did get round to saying `that's wonderful, darling'. But that was after a few minutes."
Despite heavy public hints from his wife, Blair has said he will not be taking parental leave, but he does plan to initially scale back his official workload.
Mrs. Blair recently praised Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen for taking six days after his wife, Paivi, gave birth to their second daughter in March. She's even pushed her case in court.
Only last Tuesday, Mrs. Blair went to the High Court to challenge her husband's government on the subject of parental leave. She was representing 2.7 million workers from the Trade Union Congress, who she said were being unlawfully excluded from the right to take leave.
The last serving British prime minister to father a child was Lord John Russell, whose fourth son, George Gilbert William Russell, was born in 1848.
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