Cabinet Office Minister David Miliband and his wife flew to America to adopt a baby son in time for a family Christmas.

The 39-year-old high flier, one of Tony Blair's closest allies, witnessed the birth along with his wife Louise.

The baby, named Isaac James Miliband, was born on Monday, December 13, weighing in at 7lbs.

He was taken from his natural mother and handed to the couple, who flew back to their London home on Christmas Eve.

Mr Miliband, MP for South Shields, announced the new arrival today.

He said: "I am delighted to say that Louise, my wife, and I have adopted a baby son.

"This is a wonderful end to the year for Louise and I, and our families.

"We are absolutely delighted and we are looking forward to all the joys and challenges of parenthood.

"We are really looking forward to introducing our youngster to the North- East, which we will be doing in the New Year."

The prominent MP, who was recently promoted to Minister for the Cabinet Office following a successful stint as Schools Minister, has long held a desire for a family after marrying Louise in 1998.

The couple, who split their time between their homes in South Shields and London, first met on an aeroplane in 1995 during a flight to Rome.

Louise grew up in the States, went to university there and spent much of her early career in the country. She is an accomplished cellist and is a director of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Mr Miliband, who was elected South Shields MP in June 2001, was educated at Haverstock Comprehensive in London, Oxford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has been tipped as a future leader of the Labour Party.

A family friend in South Shields said: "David and Louise have always wanted to start a family.

"This is great news for them and I'm sure they will put their heart and soul into being good parents." Isaac is the couple's first child.

Mr MIliband was previously Head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from 1997 until 2001 and Head of Policy in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997.

From 1989 to 1994 he was Research Fellow at the Institute of Public Policy Research, and from 1992 to 1994 Secretary of the Commission on Social Justice.

In 1994 he edited Reinventing the Left and co-edited Paying for Inequality (also 1994).

He was a founder of the Centre for European Reform, is President of South Shields Football Club, and a member of the Whiteleas and Cleadon Social Clubs in the town.

His late father Ralph Miliband was one of the foremost Marxist theorists of the twentieth century, who argued that the Labour party would never do anything for the working classes.

As a teenager, Ralph Miliband was a Jewish escapee from the Nazis who was given a copy of 'The Communist Manifesto' by a friend who was killed at Auschwitz.