Boris Johnson’s rollercoaster month as he returns to work hours after son’s birth to lead war against Covid-19

Boris Johnson is a modernising, socially liberal Prime Minister.

But he will not be rushing to take paternity leave after he and his fiancee Carrie Symonds announced the arrival of a baby boy early this morning .

He is expected to leave this until later in the year when the coronavirus epidemic which has torn across Britain may be more under control.

Having returned to work at No10 on Monday after his close brush with death from Covid-19, he now has to make some of the most challenging decisions faced by any modern-day premier.

For a Prime Minister in full health and with a settled family life such a task would be daunting enough – hundreds if not thousands of lives are at stake.

But Mr Johnson, 55, has had two life-changing events in just three weeks – a new family today so soon after requiring intensive care at St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster, to survive the killer infection.

One of the advantages of being Prime Minister is working from home in Downing Street so Mr Johnson will be able to pop upstairs, to the spacious flat above No11, to see Ms Symonds, their new child and Dilyn, their Jack Russell cross terrier.

However, the pressure on the Prime Minister will be ferociously intense, having to try to balance a family life with leading the war against Covid.

He will also have to weigh up how much he is being swayed in his decision-making by his near-death experience from coronavirus, from which Ms Symonds, 32, has also recovered.

Being ultra cautious on easing the lockdown, given that he has experienced the true horror of Covid, would be totally understandable.

However, delaying risks increasing the devastating economic impact on Britain of the pandemic and further health problems, including deaths, for millions trapped for most of the day in their homes and a significant numbers of people not accessing NHS care. 

But blundering over lifting restrictions too early could allow the virus to run rampant again, with a second peak claiming thousands of lives.

If coronavirus can be defeated, then there is still the small matter of Brexit, which was the biggest earthquake shock to Britain for generations , before the pandemic.

Mr Johnson and David Cameron fell out over Brexit.

But Mr Cameron could no doubt now offer him some advice, being one of four Prime Ministers in the last 170 years to have had children while in office .

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha welcomed daughter Florence Rose Endellion Cameron, their fourth child, into the world in 2010.

Politically, this was also a time of change, with the Coalition government with the Liberal Democrats having been formed three months prior to her being born.

Florence was delivered by Caesarean section at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro while the Camerons were on their summer holiday, near the village of Endellion.

While promoting his memoirs, For The Record, last year, Mr Cameron said Florence, who was only five when the family left Downing Street in 2016, was hazy about his time in power.

He told the Cheltenham Literature Festival that his daughter had asked him: “Daddy, is it true, were you actually the Prime Minister?”

Cherie Blair gave birth to Leo three years after Labour’s 1997 landslide general election win.

In her memoirs, Speaking For Myself, the QC revealed Leo was conceived during a visit to Balmoral, the Queen’s residence in Scotland.

Before Mr Blair, it was Lord John Russell and wife Lady Russell who produced the last child to be born to the office holder of First Lord of the Treasury – the Prime Minister’s official title.

Lady Russell gave birth to two sons, George and Francis, during her husband’s first stint in office between 1846 and 1852.

However, none of these other Prime Ministers have hit the headlines for controversy over their private life as much as Mr Johnson, who is known to have five children and who recently settled his divorce from his second wife, Marina Wheeler .

Mr Johnson, though, remains popular despite all his political and private turmoils and the joy of a newborn arriving is likely to fuel goodwill towards him.

The Conservatives are way ahead of Labour in the polls, even reaching 50 per cent in some.

But, with Jeremy Corbyn now replaced by Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader, Mr Johnson and his government are already facing detailed scrutiny from a far more credible Opposition .

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So far, the country has backed the Government over its handling of the coronavirus crisis but there are a growing number of questions over whether more could have been done to protect care homes , over shortages of personal protective equipment for health workers , and whether the lockdown was ordered too late, potentially costing hundreds of lives.