Hes been absent on the floods and nonsensical on coronavirus. Our role is no longer to question, but to behold, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams
When Cherie Blair got pregnant in Downing Street, to create the first baby born to an incumbent prime minister since the 1840s, the general response was a muted surprise and respectful congratulations. Nobody was anti-baby. At the same time, a prime minister was a public servant, not the head of a dynasty or a character in a soap opera; we werent about to make baby Leo into a commemorative plate. We were, in the main, steadfastly neutral towards this baby, neither for nor against him.
Contrast the forthcoming bundle of joy from Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds: supportive newspapers are billing this event somewhere between a royal baby and a second coming. The front cover of the Sunday Telegraph looks like Hello! magazine, the great, beaming face of Symonds carefully angled so that Johnson, kissing her in profile, doesnt look anything like as raddled as usual. No 10 wedding and a baby too! the headline croons, as though these two heartwarming facts were entirely unrelated. A radio host tweets, some much needed happy news for the country, and a nation is left scratching its head and rubbing its eyes: how is this supposed to be for the country? Isnt the prime minster constantly having children?