A dad again? I’m absolutely delighted, says Boris

But as he announces his engagement to pregnant Carrie, the timing could be tricky

BORIS Johnson is ‘absolutely delighted’ that he is to become a father again, he said yesterday.

The Prime Minister, 55, and Carrie symonds confirmed they were engaged and expecting a baby, following months of rumours inside Westminster.

Asked about the pregnancy yesterday, he smiled as he responded: ‘Absolutely delighted, I’m absolutely delighted, of course.’ however, Mr Johnson has not revealed if he intends to take paternity leave – and the baby is believed to be due at the time of a series of crucial foreign summits.

Miss symonds, 31, has told friends she is around five months’ pregnant, meaning she is likely to give birth in June. Mr Johnson is due to attend key events including the G7 summit in the Us and the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Rwanda that month.

he is also expected at a high-level Brexit summit in the days before a crucial european Council meeting in Brussels, meaning he could be away from Britain for at least 11 days in June.

Mr Johnson is believed to have proposed to Miss symonds during their Christmas break in Mustique, but the pair kept the engagement quiet while his divorce from his second wife was agreed.

Their announcement was made just 11 days after his divorce settlement with Marina Wheeler was agreed in court. The couple had been married for 27 years and have four children.

Reports have suggested that Mr Johnson and Miss symonds might ‘slip away quietly abroad to marry in private’ once the decree absolute was finalised, but their plans are unknown.

The couple met when Miss symonds worked on his successful bid for a second term as London Mayor in 2012, but were only linked romantically in 2018, shortly after his split from Miss Wheeler.

The wedding will be Mr Johnson’s third and he has at least five children already – four with Miss Wheeler and a fifth from an affair with art consultant helen Macintyre.

he will become the first prime minister in history to get divorced, and married, and have a baby while living in Downing street.

David Cameron and wife samantha had their youngest daughter Florence in 2010, three months after he entered Downing street. Tony Blair and wife Cherie had youngest child Leo when he was PM in 2000. Mrs Blair revealed in her memoirs that he was conyet ceived on a visit to Balmoral. The timing of Miss symonds’ announcement prompted speculation that she also could have fallen pregnant at the Queen’s estate in scotland.

she and Mr Johnson spent a night at the castle but returned to London the next day.

It has also been suggested that the baby was conceived during the Conservative Party conference in Manchester in october – his first as PM.

Bookmakers have begun offering odds for the name even though the gender is not known, with Charlotte and James early favourites.

Winston and emmeline have also been popular, because of the Prime Minister’s wartime hero and Miss symonds’ support for women’s rights. stanley has been mooted as a tribute to Mr Johnson’s father.

stanley Johnson, 79, hinted at the latest addition to his family in an interview for this month’s edition of saga magazine. he spoke about enjoying time with his grandchildren and said there may be ‘more on the way’.

Miss symonds confirmed her pregnancy on Instagram, alongside a photograph of Mr Johnson kissing her cheek, apparently taken during their Mustique holiday.

she said: ‘I wouldn’t normally post this kind of thing on here but I wanted my friends to find out from me.

‘Many of you already know but for my friends that still don’t, we got engaged at the end of last year.

‘And we’ve got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed.’

Mr Johnson married Allegra Mostyn- owen in 1987. They divorced in 1993, just 12 days before he married Miss Wheeler. They have children Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and 20year-old Theodore Apollo.

‘At least five children already’ ‘Charlotte and James favourites’