If you met his father you'd see where he gets it from

If you met his father, you'd see where he gets it from".He says: "Cherie is the rock on which my life is built I'm lucky I'm in love with Cherie I still feel like that about her She keeps me anchored Cherie is very tough with me sometimes. If I get down, she's there saying: `Look, you've got to expect these things. Now for heaven's sake, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again'. You lose a lot if you don't have emotions churning about within you"It will, of course, be the most political pregnancy and birth since - well, since Gabriel whispered the good news to the Virgin Mary Forget, "Vote New Labour". At the next general election, "Vote New Baby" will probably suffice.

Unless Ffion Hague can come up with a multiple birth, the Tories are permanently snookered.But this particular propaganda coup will not be without its potentially serious bouts of infant croup. For, while the nation rightfully rejoices (or at least feels a passing warm glow) what lies ahead for Cherie Booth is a totally new double challenge - and perhaps her toughest yet.The first issue to be faced is the physical demand of pregnancy at 45; a doddle one might guess if her present levels of energy are any guide. The second and far trickier feat will be in forging a fresh role for herself as the mother of a new baby who also has a career to which she is committed - a QC with ambitions to become a judge. For the past two years, after the nightie on the doorstep incident (when she was photographed opening the front door first thing in the morning and in a rather dishevelled state), she has risen as a phoenix from the flannelette ashes, to turn herself into the silent clothes horse at her husband's side.This Fifties fixation with acting as your spouse's adornment is something that I, amongst others, initially found highly irritating - not least because Cherie is a barrister and a mother of three with, presumably, better things to do. Then it was pointed out to me by someone rather close to her, that this was the lesser of two evils. Appearing as a walking wardrobe (lots of photo opportunities) was wiser than opening her mouth in interviews and finding herself accused of pillow talk or, worse, holding opinions rather to the left of the PM (Old Labour's nightmare, torture by tabloids). Besides, according to one friend, it isn't so much that she needs him - as he needs her in his far-flung corner of the world.Pregnancy and motherhood in the late Nineties, however, requires a completely different set of tools.

Over the next year or so and beyond, Cherie will have to move from wardrobe to wet wipes. She will no longer be judged by what she wears or how adoringly she gazes on Tony - what will matter most is how she (and her husband) behave as parents of a newborn.A sensitivity to this has already been revealed by the announcement that Baby Blair will be delivered in an NHS hospital. To quote the feminist slogan, "The personal is political", but never more than when it burps, comes in nappies and is labelled the Prime Minister's child."When the Blairs had their first three children, we lived in different times, the family was invisible in the workplace and it was up to the mother to cope as best she could ," says one Labour MP."Now, more women are in employment, and more dads want involvement with their kids. My constituents tell me they'd like more recognition of the dilemmas they face - and more government action.