Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and his 37-year-old wife Sarah are expecting a baby. Sarah is three months pregnant and the new arrival is due in February.
While the latest addition to the family of Downing Street neighbours the Blairs came as a surprise, public relations executive Sarah has been keen to start a family ever since she and Gordon, 50, tied the knot last August after a six-year courtship.
Arriving at a reception after the news had been announced, Mr Brown smiled broadly and said: “It’s great news. We’re absolutely delighted .” The proud mum-to-be smiled happily but said nothing. A spokesperson for the prime minister and his wife Cherie said, “They are delighted for the Chancellor and Sarah.”
News that the couple were to become parents sparked off a frenzy of calculations over when exactly the baby would have been conceived, with Labour MPs joking about where the chancellor had found the time when he was busy organising Tony Blair’s re-election campaign.
A fond uncle to his brothers’ children, Gordon, like the prime minister, plans to take full paternity leave and intends to be present at the birth. As the birth will fall during the chancellor’s preparations for the budget in March, the paternity leave will be staggered. Friends of Sarah, who co-runs a PR consultancy, say she will be taking time off after the birth but will return to work afterwards.
With a new arrival on the way, the couple are expected to look for a bigger home. Mr Brown gave over the chancellor’s traditional residence at number 11 Downing Street to the Blair family, as it is bigger than the prime minister’s official residence at number ten. But the Browns rarely use the Downing Street flat, preferring to live in a larger apartment the chancellor owns in Westminster.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
