THE Prime Minister might just have been saved from all the stress of dealing with newborn baby Leo - to say nothing of the babies in the Cabinet - all thanks to a County Durham man.

Tony Cranston was worried the stress of all that nappy changing and late nights, as well as the small matter of running the country, might be too much for Tony Blair after Cherie gave birth.

So the yoga, tai chi and meditation Stanley guru decided to send the PM one of his home made meditation tapes.

And, to his great surprise, he received a letter from Mr Blair's secretary expressing Tony and Cherie's keenness to seriously chill out to the tape.

"I was really pleased," laughed Mr Cranston, "but I'm a bit of an old Labour man and the joke was that I'd put subliminal messages on the tape to influence the Prime Minister's policies. But of course it was just one of my tapes that I sell to people to help them relax. I thought: 'He's got a pretty stressful job, so maybe it'll help'."

The letter from Mr Blair's secretary read: "This has been a very happy and exciting time for the whole family. It was very generous of you send the gift which they look forward to listening to."

Mr Cranston sent the tape on behalf of himself and his Chinese wife, who he met while working with children in China. To buy one of Mr Cranston's tapes or find out about his meditation classes call him on (01207) 238803 or 0771 2226261.