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Love Actually: Britain's Prime Minister Is Engaged To Be Married

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds at the Conservative Party Conference in 2019. The couple are engaged and expecting their first child.
Jeff J Mitchell
/
Getty Images
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds at the Conservative Party Conference in 2019. The couple are engaged and expecting their first child.

After a messy breakup with Europe, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is poised to enter into a new union.

On Saturday, British media reported that Johnson, known for successfully pushing the United Kingdom to exit the European Union, is engaged to his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds. The couple is also expecting their first child.

According to The Telegraph, this means Johnson will become the first British prime minister in around 200 years to marry while in office.

This isn't the couple's first time making history. Last year, it was widely reported that they were the first unmarried couple to move into the prime minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street .

But Johnson and Symonds won't be the first pair to have a child while living at the residence. In 2010, former Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha Cameron, had a daughter within months of Cameron taking office. About 10 years earlier, Tony Blair became the first British prime minister in 152 years to have a child while in office.

Symonds announced the news in an Instagram post: "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."

Symonds was formerly a communications director for Johnson's Conservative Party, and made headlines last year when she and Johnson had a noisy argument that resulted in a visit from the police. No charges were filed.

Before Symonds, Johnson's love life had its ups and downs. He was briefly married to socialite Allegra Mostyn-Owen, before marrying attorney Marina Wheeler. In 2004, Johnson had a well-publicized affair with British journalist Petronella Wyatt. Johnson was fired as vice chairman of the Conservative Party for lying about the affair.

Johnson raised four children with Wheeler, and according to The New York Times, has one other child. He has avoided confirming how many children he has, saying he wants to protect them from the glare of the media.

Several politicians have tweeted their good wishes to the newly engaged couple, including Dehenna Davison, the Conservative lawmaker for Bishop Auckland, and the former Chancellor of the Exchequer under Johnson, Sajid Javid, who resigned last month.

Others have been less congratulatory, with some suggesting the announcement was timed to distract from other news, including the recent resignation of a top official in Johnson's government.

Member of Parliament Florence Eshalomi tweeted that the announcement was "very convenient."

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.