Boris's (official) bastard baby

[Gob]

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds have announced the birth of a son.

A spokeswoman for the PM and his partner said both mother and baby are "doing very well".

It is understood the PM, who has just recovered from coronavirus, was present throughout the birth, at an NHS hospital in London.

"The PM and Ms Symonds would like to thank the fantastic NHS maternity team," the PM's spokeswoman added.

The couple have received messages of congratulation from across the political spectrum, and the PM's father Stanley said he was "absolutely delighted" and "thrilled" by the birth of his grandson.


Mr Johnson, 55, and Ms Symonds, 32, announced in March that they were expecting a baby in "early summer", and that they had become engaged at the end of last year.

They are the first unmarried couple to move into Downing Street together.

The baby is Ms Symonds' first child, while Mr Johnson is known to have fathered five.

Mr Johnson returned to work on Monday, after a battle with coronavirus which saw him spend three nights in intensive care. Ms Symonds also suffered symptoms of the disease.

Ms Symonds said on social media that she had spent a "worrying" week in bed with the symptoms of the virus while the PM was self-isolating with the the disease.

She later sent Mr Johnson baby scans and daily messages while he was in hospital, to keep his morale up.

Mr Johnson's Conservative colleagues have also been congratulating the couple on social media, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock saying: "So thrilled for Boris and Carrie. Wonderful to have a moment of unalloyed joy!"

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also offered his congratulations on the "wonderful news".

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: "Some good news - sending congratulations to Carrie and the PM. And wishing health and happiness to the wee one.

Arlene Foster, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, congratulated the couple, adding: "More sleepless nights ahead!"

Mr Johnson has previously indicated he will take paternity leave but it is not known if his plans have changed, in light of the coronavirus emergency.

The new arrival is the third baby born to a serving prime minister in recent history.

Tony Blair's wife Cherie gave birth to son Leo in May 2000, three years after her husband's first election victory, and David Cameron and wife Samantha welcomed daughter Florence in 2010.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle congratulated Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds "on behalf of everyone in the House of Commons," adding: "Such happy news amid so much uncertainty - 2020 is certainly a year they will never forget."

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted his congratulations and prayers for the couple. "as they welcome their son into the world".

"Wishing them every blessing and happiness," he added.

There was speculation that Mr Johnson would take part in his first Prime Minister's Questions since recovering from coronavirus later on Wednesday.

But his place will be taken Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been deputising for him.

[BoSoxGal]

No child is illegitimate or a 'bastard' - drag your thinking into the 21st century. Just because some have suffered with that fucked up ignorant label in the past is no reason to continue inflicting it on kids.

[Big RR]

Not necessarily; my step grandfather was a bastard all his life (even as a kid from what I heard), even though his parents were married when he was conceived and born. Just a despicable human being.

[BoSoxGal]

Funny ha ha.

[Big RR]

Why thank you. Enjoy the rest of the show, and don't forget to tip your server.

ETA: Seriously though, the Brits have traditionally taken this seriously; as I recall, heraldic crests (and later diagonally striped ties) identified the illegitimate branches of families bar a left leaning diagonal bar (bar sinister) while the legitimate side had a right leaning bar. I don't think it was necessarily pejorative, and it appears the illegitimate branches contentedly adopted the convention, it just kept the score straight and identified those whose parentage was unquestioned, apart from those who might have another father. Indeed, the child could inherit his father's title if he were "legitimated" by a legal recognition of his status as a child of the title holder.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Speaking as a former bastard (No Gob. No!), what does it matter? I was only a bastard for a little while. My mother told me when I was 20 or so; she felt compelled to 'fess up because the divorce law changes meant that dad could now divorce his first bastard (she was like Big RR's step-d) and marry mum. Which he did a few months later. I don't know if being a bastard counts for all the time you don't know you are.

When she told me, dad was ill in bed with heart-attack number 5 and I guess he was worried what I'd say when I found out they were not married. I told him he was a stupid sod and to get up and stop malingering. We had crib games to play.

Those were the good old days - neither one of them could have been PM, being as they were consorting (apparently they did that more than once despite the known consequence) without benefit of being married. Shame that standards have slipped so badly.

ETA BigRR I used to play Kingmaker (Wars of the Roses board game) in person and by mail. Inspired by above, my "faction" name was The Bend Sinister. The bar in heraldry is a bend or baton. I like "bend" better than "bar" though either would have done. Spend more time in bars than round the bend though.

[BoSoxGal]

The most ridiculous thing about labelling a child born outside marriage as a bastard is the stupid notion that marriage is in any way a guarantee of paternity. In a pre-DNA world, maybe. Nowadays it is nonsensical.

While I recognize that there are still laws presuming paternity within a marriage, I really think the law should catch up to the science - for the sake of children and their interest in knowing their genetic and medical heritage.

[Gob]

I was born a bastard, and was adopted. I'll use the term as I like.

[BoSoxGal]

You don’t have the right to label others just because you’ve internalized an antiquated and abusive practice.

[Lord Jim]

Seems to me like this is a lucky little tyke; two loving successful parents, (though he almost lost his dad) he will want for nothing, whether his parents are formally married or not...

Congratulations to the new parents

[Gob]

You don’t have the right to label others just because you’ve internalized an antiquated and abusive practice.

You don't have the right to condemn me for doing it.

Bastard:

a person born of unmarried parents; an illegitimate child.

[BoSoxGal]

Yes, I do. If you want to call yourself a bastard I won’t condemn that, although I’ll pity you. But I absolutely will condemn you calling a beautiful, wanted and loved baby a bastard - and I have every right to do that. Everyone of us has the right - and indeed the obligation - to defend children.

[Crackpot]

It’s not Gobs fault that you have a negative reaction to the term

[Gob]

Did you not read the title BSG? It was a joke about the number of children Boris has fathered, (five he admits to, but there may be seven.)

[BoSoxGal]

It isn’t a joke to call a baby a bastard. I suspect far more people think as I do on this matter than think as you do. I stand for children, not the twisted thinking of damaged adults.

[BoSoxGal]

It’s not Gobs fault that you have a negative reaction to the term

This isn’t about me it is about labeling an innocent child a bastard and providing a reason for that child to be vilified by sick small-minded damaged adults and the children they raise and poison.

I honestly cannot comprehend defending such labeling.

[Crackpot]

My point is the label really doesn’t have the impact it once did. Much the same way being labeled a homosexual or a communist or even a nazi have diminished impacts nowadays. While other terms like “Karen” now have a rising social impact.

In the end it comes down to how objective the label is and how one lets people label affect them.

Being a bastard (in a non-colloquial fashion) an objective label that in the long run has no real bearing on the individual. (Yes I am a bastard but so was Jesus)

While other like being called a “Karen (or Ken as the gendered equivalent seems to be emerging)” is a lot more subjective on how an outsider interprets ones behavior. One may agree or disagree with the veracity or said label but the veracity and the reaction is still reliant or the individuals interpretation.

[BoSoxGal]

Which is why an offensive term like "bastard" is so obscene when applied to a child. The simplicity with which that child views the world can easily be lost sight of. Legally, technically and linguistically, "bastard" may be the correct term for a baby born to two unmarried people. But it implies a difference, a morally degenerate difference. And to a child who sees only right and wrong, only good and bad, the ifs and the whys are irrelevant. The only thing a beautiful, optimistic, full of potential child knows is that to be a "bastard" is to be shameful. The six-year-old optimist can too easily be confused and hurt, if society tells them they are a bastard.

. . .

Language is never neutral. Language is a reflection of the way we interpret our society and by extension how we treat its members. . . . To use the word "bastard" in reference to children is to legitimise the connotations around it. To make the use of the word bastard permissible about children is to make once again permissible the victimisation, discrimination, shame and hurt inflicted on thousands of children and their parents. It is to inflict confusion and shame on children. It is an incitement to - at best - think less of children "disadvantaged" by circumstances over which they had no control.

The label "bastard" is not just a word. And the hurt it has given rise to is too close to argue otherwise.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irisht ... mode%3Damp

I strenuously disagree; labels might have less power to reasoned independent adults, but the stigma they invoke has a powerful effect on the developing psyche of children. There is just no good argument in favor of calling a child a bastard.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Perhaps when Boris-minor signs up for Plan B he might be upset by the subject line of Gob's post. But we'll all be dead so that's OK

[RayThom]

Not necessarily; my step grandfather was a bastard all his life (even as a kid from what I heard), even though his parents were married when he was conceived and born. Just a despicable human being.

This hits close to home.

I just substitute "father" for "step grandfather" and it works perfectly. The word bastard is way too pleasant when describing him, however.

He lived to 94 -- only the good die young truly proved out.

Regardless, in today's society with so many unmarried couples living together (in sin -- as my mom used to say until she knew I was shacking up with my then girlfriend) and many having babies, the term 'bastard' is not only trite but archaic, and horribly unfair to the child.