Little Leo makes good politics

By EDITORIAL NOTEBOOK: DIANE ROBERTS

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2000

LONDON -- Tony Blair has got to be among the greatest PR geniuses the world has ever produced. Or else the luckiest man in politics.

Just when New Labor started slipping dangerously in the opinion polls, just when his government seemed to be losing their grip on the Northern Ireland problem, got to the end of their collective rope on Zimbabwe, and had to admit they'd allowed illicit genetically-modified seeds into the ecosystem, Blair finds a way out. Using the techniques of Old Labor (the kind that involves contractions, pushing and epidurals) the New Labor leader, aided by his high-powered lawyer wife Cherie, created a brilliant distraction. Even the leader of the opposition Conservative Party went all sweet and gooey over it. The distraction's name is Leo Blair, weighing in at 6 pounds 12 ounces.

It's been 150 years since a baby was brought home to Downing Street, and in 1850, when a son was born to Prime Minister Lord Russell, it was considered a private matter, not headline fodder. Times have clearly changed. The press hung around the Chelsea and Westminster hospital all night, hoping for a glimpse of the new Blair. It was like the media circus that always attends royal births, but where princesses of the realm know their offspring will be in public life from Day One and pose obligingly in front of the maternity ward door, the Blairs tried to insist this was purely a family occasion.

Much of the nation thought they protested too much. It must have crossed the expansive minds of Labor's bright young spin doctors that a new baby in the year before a general election would focus attention on the warm nuclear normality of the Blairs. The Tories -- whose three main leaders are childless -- would be robbed of any authority on family issues in the campaign. Not that the Blairs planned (that would be just too Machiavellian) their baby according to the election cycle, but who can resist those photos of one of the leaders of the western world, dressed to cuddle in a wrinkled denim shirt, gazing adoringly at his tiny son? Little Leo must be worth at least 5 points in the polls.

Like the Clintons, the Blairs have asked the press to leave their children alone. The press has generally complied. But no matter what the Blairs do, their family life -- like the lives of the Royals -- belongs to the nation. When Cherie Blair, who earns a bigger salary than Tony, appeared in the High Court just days before Leo's birth to argue against her husband's government's policy on parental leave, the papers went wild. They weren't just fascinated by the spectacle of the prime minister's barrister wife taking apart Labor policy on behalf of a trade union, her flat shoes and bottle of mineral water invited comment (favorable), her ability to stand for two hours before the judge was marvelled at, and her insistence on working up to the last minute was debated. Now that the baby has arrived, the nation is arguing over whether the Blairs should use disposable diapers (convenient) or cloth ones (eco-friendly), whether Cherie will breast-feed in public and just how helpful Tony will be around the house. Suddenly the economy, foreign policy and even who will win Wimbledon seem to pale in comparison.

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