Speaker feeds lawmaker’s son during debate in Parliament

The speaker of New Zealand’s parliament has cradled and fed a colleague’s baby while he presided over a debate in the House of Representatives.

Trevor Mallard tweeted a picture of himself feeding MP Tamati Coffey’s baby boy in the speaker’s seat.

He captioned the touching moment saying: “Normally the Speaker’s chair is only used by Presiding Officers, but today a VIP took the chair with me.

“Congratulations Tamati Coffey and Tim on the newest member of your family.”

Mr Mallard has received an outpouring on praise online for the sweet moment, as the tweet has been shared and liked hundreds of times.

“New Zealand….you might be a small country, but you have a huge lesson to teach the world!”, one Twitter user said, while another added: “That is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in years.”

Mr Coffey’s son was born via a surrogate to him and his partner Tim Smith in July.

Other MPs also rushed to praise Mr Coffey for bringing the baby into the parliament chamber and shared an image of him holding his son.

Mr Mallard, 65, has been speaker of the House of Representatives since November 2017.

Source: DailyMail