Blair’s Wife Announces Pregnancy

A smiling Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said Friday that she had been surprised to learn she was pregnant at age 45 but was “feeling very well, thank you.”

Britain’s politicians and media feted her, and Downing Street said her husband was “completely, totally 100% stunned.” Blair will become the first British prime minister in more than 150 years known to have fathered a child while in office.

“It’s going to make a large difference to them, their lives, their work and No. 10,” the prime minister’s spokesman said. No. 10 Downing Street is the prime minister’s official residence.

“At the moment the prime minister only generally gets woken in the middle of the night because of Northern Ireland,” the spokesman said.

Major newspapers splashed headlines such as “Blair Baby on the Way” after the announcement by the Labor prime minister’s office late Thursday.

Reporters and camera crews camped outside the Blairs’ Downing Street residence were rewarded Friday about noon when Cherie Blair emerged, bundled up against the cold in a long sweater dress.

“I’m feeling very well, thank you,” she said. Asked her reaction to learning she was pregnant, she smiled and said, “Surprise,” before getting into a car and being driven away.

“We’re now in for a pregnancy sort of like a royal pregnancy,” said David Yelland, editor of the Sun tabloid.

The Blairs already have three children: Euan, 15, Nicky, 14, and Kathryn, 11.

Warm wishes poured in from politicians, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton one of the first to call.

“Congratulations to Cherie and Tony,” opposition Conservative leader William Hague and his wife, Ffion, said. “We are delighted for the whole family.”

Downing Street said that Cherie Blair was 13 weeks pregnant and that the pregnancy would be handled “exclusively” by the National Health Service, Britain’s taxpayer-funded health care system, not private doctors.

The prime minister’s spokesman also warned the press not to intrude or use the pregnancy as an excuse to hassle the other Blair children. Cherie Blair would give no interviews, he said.

Asked whether the prime minister would take paternity leave, the spokesman said, “I think his wife would appreciate support.”

The spokesman said Blair could not believe that he was going back to changing diapers and that the child would still be at school when he is in retirement. He hopes to be at the birth as he was for two of his three children.

The couple had hoped to announce the pregnancy later but were forced to break the news after inquiries from a tabloid.

Under her maiden name of Cherie Booth, the prime minister’s wife is a lawyer whose reported income of more than $325,000 a year is well above her husband’s official salary of about $177,000.

Leading Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is offering odds of 4-5 on Cherie Blair giving birth to a boy, even odds on a girl, 50-1 on twins and 500-1 on triplets.