The message they seek to convey is clear: we have our feet on the ground, practising what we preach by ignoring the lure of an ?tist education at a private school. Occasionally Mr Blair chooses to give his family a public profile unrelated to a specific policy. Last year’s Christmas card was not the only occasion when the media got a glimpse of Leo.There are other times when a political leader has to accept that his family is of legitimate public interest when he would prefer it not to be. He cannot pick the moments when the lights are switched on and off. The lights shine with greatest legitimacy when there is a direct link between government policy and the personal conduct of the political leader running the Government Mr Blair knows this to be the case from his own experience.
When he sent one of his sons to the Oratory, a school that had opted out of local-authority control, there was a political row. Mr Blair’s protests that this was a family matter did not even convince his Press Secretary, Alastair Campbell, who was appalled at the decision. At the time, Labour Party policy was opposed to schools opting out of local-authority control Mr Blair resolved the matter by changing the policy. What he could not do was insist unconvincingly that it was an entirely private matter.He is trying to make that case now, even less convincingly, over whether young Leo has been give the MMR injection.
The Department of Health has launched a campaign to persuade parents that their children should receive the injection. The Health minister, Yvette Cooper, has said that her children will have the MMR injection; but, as we report on the front page, the Department of Health is having problems convincing parents Mr Blair’s silence is part of the department’s problem It conveys Prime Ministerial doubt about MMR. The persistent refusal to reveal their decision will nurture a wider suspicion that the Blairs decided not to follow the advice of the Prime Minister’s own health department Mr Blair should come clean. His family deserves as much privacy as possible, but not when his actions as a parent may conflict with the policies of his government..
