World / UK PM Boris Johnson names his son after doctors who saved his life as first pic out

London: Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, in a tribute to their grandfathers and the doctors who treated the prime minister for coronavirus.

Symonds, 32, posted a picture of her holding the newborn on Instagram on Saturday, saying she “couldn’t be happier” and that her “heart is full”.

Symonds and Wilfred are understood to be back in Downing Street with Johnson.

The couple announced on Wednesday that she had given birth to a baby boy earlier that day. It came just weeks after Johnson was discharged from intensive care where he had been receiving treatment for Covid-19. Symonds also experienced symptoms of the disease.

She wrote in her Instagram post: “Introducing Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson born on 29.04.20 at 9am.

“Wilfred after Boris’s grandfather, Lawrie after my grandfather, Nicholas after Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart – the two doctors that saved Boris’s life last month.

“Thank you so, so much to the incredible NHS maternity team at UCLH that looked after us so well. I couldn’t be happier. My heart is full.”

The doctors Johnson named his son after are experts in infectious diseases and ventilation. Dr Nicholas Price is a consultant in infectious diseases and general medicine, according to the Guys and St Thomas’ NHS trust website, with further expertise in infection prevention and control.

Prof Nicholas Hart is the director of the Lane Fox Respiratory Service at the Guys and St Thomas’ Trust, and a professor of respiratory and critical care medicine at King’s College London. He has expertise in rehabilitation and home mechanical ventilation with chronic respiratory failure, according to his profile.

The medics shared their “warm congratulations” with the couple, and said in a statement: “We are honoured and humbled to have been recognised in this way, and we give our thanks to the incredible team of professionals who we work with at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and who ensure every patient receives the best care.

“We wish the new family every health and happiness.”

The NHS in London said: “We are proud of the tributes made by prime minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds to the dedicated staff in London’s NHS.

“We wish the family all the best.”

The prime minister is expected to take a short period of paternity leave later in the year. The family are planning to live in their Downing Street flat along with their dog, Dilyn, No 10 has said.

The couple announced in February that they were expecting a baby in early summer and that they had become engaged at the end of 2019.

They became the first unmarried couple to officially live together in Downing Street when they moved in last summer, after Johnson won the Conservative party leadership contest.

The new arrival is 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. David and Samantha Cameron welcomed their daughter Florence in 2010.

The last babies born to prime ministers before Leo and Florence arrived more than 150 years ago.

Wilfred is Symonds’s first child. Johnson is known to have fathered five.