Boris Johnson has admitted for the first time that he has six children, claiming in an interview on US television that he "changes a lot of nappies".
The British prime minister has previously tended to avoid questions about his notoriously complex family life. He has been divorced twice, and conceived a daughter during an extramarital relationship.
But when an NBC interviewer put to him that he has six children, he replied: “Yes.”
Mr Johnson has a one-year-old child, Wilfred, with his wife, Carrie Johnson. He said it was "fantastic," to have children in Number 10, claiming: "I change a lot of nappies." The couple are now expecting another baby.
Mr Johnson also has four adult children with his second wife, Marina Wheeler, and his daughter from his extramarital relationship.
It has been reported that Johnson could have conceived another child or children beyond those known about, but he has refused to discuss this.
Ahead of the 2019 general election, Johnson was openly asked about this during a phone in on LBC radio, in which he was challenged by a caller about an article he wrote in 1995 in which he blamed single mothers for “producing a generation of ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate children”.
After the exchange, host Nick Ferrari pressed Johnson on how many children he had.
“I think what people want to hear is what plans we have,” Johnson replied. “I love my children very much but they are not standing at this election and I’m not, therefore, going to comment.”
Asked if he was “fully and wholly involved in all their lives”, Johnson again refused to comment, saying: “I am not going to put them on to the pitch in this election campaign.”
Biden meeting
In his NBC interview on Tuesday, the prime minister referred to the US president, Joe Biden, whom he will meet in the White House later in the day, as a “breath of fresh air”.
The pair are expected to discuss issues including this summer’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the prospects for a successful outcome to the COP26 climate summit in November.
In his NBC interview, Johnson denied that he had been snubbed by Biden at times during the crisis.
“I don’t discuss my calls with other leaders but to the best of my recollection we talked very frankly about the whole thing,” he said.
Asked if he agreed with Biden’s decision to set and stick to a date for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, he said: “America has been there for 20 years and it’s a respectable argument to say ‘enough is enough’,” adding: “Could we have done things differently? Perhaps we could.” – Guardian