Blair: just a regular bloke

Tony Blair, normally so protective about his family's privacy, has opened up about home life at 10 Downing Street.

The children hate his cooking but love Chinese takeaways. Two-year- old Leo watches his favourite video, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, every morning. And 14-year-old Kathryn plays badminton with her friends in the garden at Number 10 using a net made from a piece of string suspended between two benches. Oh, and Mr Blair himself has a soft spot for The Simpsons.

Such titbits would normally be a closely guarded secret. As Mr Blair and his officials repeatedly insist, his children's lives are private and media intrusion is met with severe retribution from Downing Street.

The rules appear to be more relaxed, however, when the PM thinks his image as a family man could do with a boost.

He makes the revelations in an interview with Chat, the women's weekly magazine that appeals to a large audience who may not closely follow the workings of everyday politics.

'I unwind with the kids,' Mr Blair says. 'We watch TV together, that

sort of thing. I love the Simpsons, but it's difficult to watch soaps because I'm never here for long.

'Leo loves Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I get up every morning and it's on. I enjoyed it the first three times. Now I know all the words to all the songs.'

He adds: 'When I cook, the kids go on strike, although Cherie says I do a good roast chicken. If the family are away, I'll cook myself bacon and eggs - something simple.

'We do get takeaways. The nearest to Downing Street is in Soho. We don't pick it up ourselves, someone gets it for us, and it has to be security-checked, like everything that comes into Downing Street.

'If we have Chinese, I like Peking duck, and when we have an Indian, I love naan bread.'

Mr Blair stresses how keen he is to be an ordinary father.

'My job never really stops,' he says. 'But when the door to our flat closes, I'm very much like any other dad. In a sense, I see more of Leo because he's above the shop.'

The Premier does not mention Kathryn's badminton. The magazine's journalists spotted her playing in the garden and mention it in their interview. Whether Downing Street will complain about this is unclear.

Mr Blair also makes a serious point about drugs. 'We need to teach young people about the dangers,' he says.

'If my own kids took drugs, I'd be very sad because we've tried to educate them and tell them not to. But it's difficult. It's every parent's nightmare.'

The Prime Minister has complained to the Press Complaints Commission on several occasions about press intrusion into the lives of his children. But Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has accused him of 'using his children ruthlessly'.