Tory MP Rory Stewart Delivered His First Baby On The Bathroom Floor

Tory MP Rory Stewart Delivered His First Baby On The Bathroom Floor
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Associated Press
Britain Conservative Party candidate Rory Stewart, is seen as he tour's his prospective constituency, meeting the people who live and work in the area, Greystoke, England, Friday April 16, 2010. Conservative Party leader David Cameron 's crop of new candidates are a group of young, multiethnic professionals who he hopes can shed the Tories' image as a

Tory MP Rory Stewart has announced the birth of his first child - after delivering the baby himself.

Alexander Wolf Stewart arrived so quickly on November 12 that his dad had to deliver him on the bathroom floor before a midwife could get there.

Mr Stewart, the MP for Penrith and the Borders, said in a statement: "The birth went very well and the baby and his mother, Shoshana, are very well. We are so so immensely happy and proud. It is such a happy day."

The politician's impressive delivery has been greeted with admiration from well-wishers because he is famous for being one of the most derring-do MPs in the House of Commons.

Hong Kong-born Mr Stewart's family seat is in Perthshire, and he attended Eton, where as a summer tutor he taught both Princes William and Harry.

Before he was elected to Parliament, he once hiked 6,000 miles through Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India and Nepal, staying in 500 different villages, and wrote several award winning books about his adventures.

Then he governed a province of Iraq before embarking on a less dangerous life as a politician.

A columnist in The Spectator wrote: "Is there anything Rory Stewart can't do? What does the ambitious Tory do for an encore?"

And on Twitter, one user wrote: "This is what Cumbria needs; an MP who really delivers."

Just how Mr Stewart takes to fatherhood remains to be seen because a year ago - playing on revolutionary Karl Marx's infamous statement that 'religion is the opium of the masses' – he said children are the 'new opium' for parents who worship them to give their lives meaning.

In an interview with Radio Times he hit out at people who think of their offspring as their 'purpose' in life.

He said: "If we say the purpose of life is our children, that's neither a purpose nor a meaning."

But he caveats: "But I'm sure I will be as besotted as everybody else when I have them."

We're sure you will be, Mr Stewart. Congratulations to you and Mrs Stewart.

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