Baby boy for Witney MP (From Witney Gazette)

Baby boy for Witney MP

8:37am Wednesday 15th February 2006 in Witney

Witney MP David Cameron and his wife Samantha are celebrating the birth of their third child a baby boy.

The Valentine's Day baby was born by Caesarian section at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, at 11.55am on Tuesday.

A jubilant Mr Cameron, who had rushed to be by this wife's side for the birth, said: "Everything is fantastic, it's really exciting. We've had a beautiful baby boy weighing 7lb 13oz."

Mr Cameron, 39, said they had not decided on a name for the child yet, joking: "I can't make decisions like that."

Speaking outside the hospital, dressed casually for the occasion in jeans and long-sleeved shirt, Mr Cameron added: "He's lovely, he has blue eyes and black curly hair.

"It was all over very quickly. Everything seemed fine.

'Everything is fantastic, it’s really exciting'

David Cameron

"Sam is doing really well, she's sitting up and will be here for a couple of days."

There were no complications during the birth and Mrs Cameron, 34, is in good health.

The couple already have a son, Ivan, four, who is severely disabled, and daughter Nancy, two.

Mr Cameron had been in a meeting with his shadow cabinet at the House of Commons at 9.45am when he got a telephone call to say his wife was on her way to hospital and he rushed to be by her side.

The baby was born slightly earlier than the due date by Caesarean for medical reasons, as both previous births have been by Caesarean.

Mr Cameron said he will be spending the next couple of days at the hospital and would miss key votes in the House of Commons.

A senior aide said he is to take two weeks' paternity leave, and missed Tuesay night's vote on smoking in pubs.

In a recent interview Mr Cameron said he would take one week immediately and "probably" another week soon afterwards "when the baby isn't sleeping and Samantha's more tired".

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague will take his place at Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, reprising a role he filled as Tory leader between 1997 and 2001.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said Mr Blair would congratulate Mr Cameron "in the appropriate way at the appropriate time".

He confirmed that Mr Blair would answer at question time tomorrow setting up a revival of past Commons clashes with Mr Hague.

"It's Prime Minister's questions. If the Prime Minister's here, it remains Prime Minister's questions," he said.

The baby provided one of the most memorable scenes of last year's Tory party conference when Mrs Cameron joined her husband on stage after his speech and he gently patted her stomach.

The latest addition to the Cameron family makes the happy father the third party leader in six years to celebrate a new arrival following Tony Blair and Charles Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy's wife Sarah gave birth to their first son at the start of last year's election campaign. Mr Kennedy took a few days off from the campaign trail. But the strain of fatherhood quickly showed when a clearly tired Mr Kennedy blundered over Lib Dem tax plans on his return to the fray.

In May 2000, Cherie Blair gave birth to the couple's fourth child, Leo.