New guidelines to protect Leo

The Blairs - a rare family snapshot

The British media is to get new guidelines to protect the privacy of Prime Minister Tony Blair's baby son Leo, Press Complaints Commission chairman Lord Wakeham has said.

Mr Blair requested advice from the PCC after photographs were published of three-month-old Leo arriving for his christening in the prime minister's Sedgefield constituency.

I think, the view of the parents must be paramount in how they bring up their children and whether they keep them out of the public eye

Lord Wakeham

Downing Street had asked the media to stay away, but several newspapers bought pictures taken by schoolchildren outside the church as Leo was carried in for the ceremony.

PCC chairman Lord Wakeham said protecting the children of people who hold prominent positions in public life was in the interest of everyone.

"As far as Leo Blair is concerned, the prime minister has asked me to produce some guidelines as to how the code ought to apply to children, to Leo in particular," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"In my view, whatever we come up with should apply to the children of people in prominent positions in public life and so I think it is of general value as well as particularly for Leo.

Guidlines should be in everyone's interest

Lord Wakeham said that "reasonable" guidelines operated in everyone's interest.

Commenting on the furore over the christening photographs Lord Wakeham said: "These things are always very difficult and overwhelmingly, I think, the view of the parents must be paramount in how they bring up their children and whether they keep them out of the public eye.

"It's in everybody's interest that we have some guidelines - both newspapers and people, such as the prime minister and his wife - that are reasonable.

"It is not a new problem, but it needs to be redefined every now and again."

Privacy

The Blairs fiercely guard the privacy of their children and after the pictures were published of Leo without their permission Downing Street announced that the family would not pose for photos on their annual holiday.

That threat was later withdrawn and they appeared briefly for the cameras outside their holiday home in Tuscany.

But earlier this year the Blairs were forced to co-operate with the media when their eldest son Euan hit the headlines after he was found passed out drunk in London's Leicester Square.

Then the prime minister acknowledged that there was a genuinue public interest in the story as Euan - who had been out celebrating the end of his GCSEs - was underage.