President Clinton was delighted to meet Leo

Spokesman for the prime minister

"President Clinton was delighted to meet Leo and held him in his arms and introduced him to President Chirac, with whom he was about to begin a bilateral meeting," said a spokesman for the prime minister.

Mrs Blair relented to pleas from the Clinton family for the president to be allowed to see little Leo.

He had just finished a meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council which had been discussing issues like the reform of the global organisation's peacekeeping role.

'A fantastic baby'

Mr Chirac then met the newest member of the Blair family, picking him up and cradling him in his arms.

The Blairs were showing Leo off at the end of the United Nations' Millennium Summit in New York.

No photographs were allowed for publication of either president with Leo.

The Blairs are highly protective of their children's privacy and recently threatened to pull out of a traditional pre-holiday photoshoot after some papers published pictures of baby Leo at his christening.

Mr Blair had earlier told millions of Americans watching breakfast TV Leo was "a fantastic baby" who was regularly sleeping through the night.