LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's wife Carrie gave birth to a “healthy baby girl” at a London hospital on Thursday morning, a spokeswoman for the couple said in a statement.
“Both mother and daughter are doing very well. The couple would like to thank the brilliant NHS maternity team for all their care and support,” the spokeswoman said.
The baby is the couple’s second child together, after their son Wilfred was born in April 2020. They were married in May this year.
Johnson has been married twice before and declines to say how many children he has fathered. He had four children with his second wife, Marina Wheeler, a lawyer.
The happy personal news followed a dramatic day for the U.K. prime minister on Wednesday.
Johnson came under increasing pressure Wednesday to explain reports that his staff last year held a Christmas party that breached the country's coronavirus rules, when cases were rising and people across the country were banned from holding most types of gatherings. He ordered an inquiry Wednesday and said he was “furious” about the situation.
Amongst the uproar, which saw one of his aides resign, Johnson announced new tighter restrictions to stem the spread of the omicron variant.
Urging people in England to work from home, Johnson said people would need Covid-19 passes to attend nightclubs and other large events.
The name of the couple's newborn daughter was not immediately released.
After the couple named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, Carrie Johnson, an environmental activist and former official in Johnson’s ruling Conservative Party, said that the name Wilfred came from the prime minister's grandfather and Lawrie from her own grandfather.
Nicholas was inspired by the names of two doctors, both called Nick, who treated Johnson when he was sick in hospital with Covid-19 that year, she said.