Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds announce birth of baby boy

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set for an unusually busy few months in office.

The 55-year-old and his fiancée Carrie Symonds, 32, welcomed a baby boy on Wednesday morning, a spokesperson for the “thrilled” couple announced.

The child was born at a London hospital, the spokesperson said, adding that mother and baby are doing very well.

“The PM and Ms Symonds would like to thank the fantastic NHS maternity team,” the spokesperson said.

Figures from across the British political spectrum congratulated the couple after the news emerged.

“Great to hear Downing Street is getting a new resident,” Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Twitter.

Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, said: “On behalf of everyone in the House of Commons, may I say congratulations to the Prime Minister and Carrie Symonds on the birth of their son. Such happy news amid so much uncertainty – 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget.”

Johnson returned to work on Monday, after becoming the first world leader to fall ill with coronavirus in March.

The UK Prime Minister spent three nights in intensive care in early April, before his condition improved.

Symonds previously said on Twitter that she had also experienced coronavirus symptoms.

The couple announced in February 2020 that they were engaged to be married.

Symonds has had a prominent career in politics, and was part of the campaign team that helped to get Johnson re-elected as mayor of London in 2012.

The British Prime Minister has four children from his second marriage.

Johnson is expected to take a short period paternity leave “at some point later in the year, but not now,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.

The last time a child was born to a sitting prime minister was in 2010, when David Cameron and his wife, Samantha Cameron, welcomed their daughter Florence.