No 10 denies Blair heart problem claims
Downing Street has denied David Blunkett’s claims that the prime minister has had a heart problem for the past 18 years.
The former home secretary claims in his memoirs that Tony Blair, after being admitted to hospital with a heart murmur in October 2003, told him it had been a problem since 1988.
Mr Blunkett’s comments appeared to contradict Downing Street’s claim at the time that this was a new problem, but asked this morning if they were accurate, Mr Blair’s official spokesman said: “We dealt with this at the time. But the simple answer is no.”
In 2004, the prime minister underwent surgery for a heart murmur, known as supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). It followed the scare a year earlier, in October 2003.
At the time of the scare, Downing Street indicated it was the first time Mr Blair had had this problem, reacting to former US president Bill Clinton’s claims that it had happened before by saying: “We are mystified.
“This was the first time that the prime minister had suffered from such a condition. The prime minister did not, and never had, a heart condition.”
But in the latest installment of The Blunkett Tapes, which are being serialised in two national newspapers, Mr Blunkett suggests otherwise.
“Tony told me when I spoke to him on the telephone that he had had the heart problem, on and off, for 15 years, but this time he had had to go into hospital, which is why it became public knowledge,” he wrote.
Mr Clinton, a close friend of Mr Blair’s, was reported as saying at the time: “I’ve known about this for a long time. He told me about it quite a few years ago.”
The Queen also reportedly expressed her concern to an aide at the prime minister’s admission to hospital, saying: “He’s told me he’s had similar complications in the past.”
Mr Blunkett had prepared to return to Britain from a meeting in France when he heard the news, but said: “Thank goodness, it wasn’t necessary.”
Downing Street had earlier refused to comment on the memoirs, saying yesterday it would not be doing a “book review”. Asked if Mr Blair had read the serialised version, the prime minister’s official spokesman said he doubted it.
