Boris Johnson indicated he would “almost certainly” be taking paternity leave when his new baby arrives.
The Prime Minister and fiancee Carrie Symonds are expecting a baby in the early summer.
Asked whether he intended to take time off, Mr Johnson said: “The answer is almost certainly, yes.”
Although as he then suggested “I can’t remember what the question was”.
Over the weekend Ms Symmonds told her followers on Instagram she felt “incredibly blessed”.
She said she and Mr Johnson got engaged at the end of last year “and we’ve got a baby hatching early summer”.
Mr Johnson, 55, and Miss Symonds, 31, made history as the first unmarried couple to officially live together in Downing Street when they moved in last year.
The new arrival will be the third baby born to a serving prime minister in recent history.
Tony Blair’s wife Cherie gave birth to son Leo in May 2000, three years after her husband’s first election victory.
Conservative prime minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha welcomed daughter Florence Rose Endellion Cameron in 2010, three months after Mr Cameron had formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats after that year’s general election produced a hung parliament.
The last babies born to prime ministers before Leo and Florence arrived more than 150 years ago.
Related – Twitter reacts to news of Boris Johnson & Carie Symonds’ baby announcement
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
