Boris Johnson and his fiancée Carrie Symonds' new son has been named after the NHS doctors who treated the UK Prime Minister in intensive care.

Symonds uploaded a photo of their baby on Instagram and announced the boy, who was born last Wednesday, will be called Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas.

She said Wilfred was named after Johnson's grandfather, Lawrie came from her grandfather and Nicholas after Nick Price and Nick Hart - the two doctors who the couple have praised for saving Johnson's life at St Thomas' hospital in London last month. 

"I couldn't be happier," Symonds, 32, said, adding her thanks to the maternity staff of University College London Hospital. "My heart is full."

Johnson, 55, returned to work on Monday after recuperating from COVID-19, which had left him gravely ill in intensive care at the peak of the coronavirus outbreak. 

He attended the birth last Wednesday before returning to Downing Street to lead the response to the pandemic. Johnson is expected to have a  "short period" of paternity leave later this year, 10, Downing Street said.

When Johnson left hospital last month, after a spell that included three nights in intensive care, he said "it could have gone either way." He added: "It is thanks to that courage, that devotion, that duty and that love that our NHS has been unbeatable."