UK News 01-10-2004 Blair Heart Op who: Tony Blair what: Admitted to hospital for "routine" heart operation where: Hammersmith Hospital, LONDON when: This morning snippet: "Tony Blair said he felt `fine` as he left Downing Street to undergo hospital treatment for a recurring heart condition," reports Sky News this morning. "The Prime Minister looked relaxed as he was driven away, accompanied by his wife Cherie." It was announced yesterday that Mr Blair would travel to Hammersmith Hospital in west London where he would have a catheter ablation operation to correct his heart`s abnormal rhythm, says The Independent. The procedure will be performed under local anaesthetic and he will spend the weekend recuperating before getting back to his desk on Monday prior to his trip to Ethiopia on Tuesday. Yesterday he insisted that he intended to serve a full third term if elected, but he would carry on no longer than that. "I do not want to serve a fourth term," he says, quoted in The Sun. "I don’t think the British people want a Prime Minister to go on that long but I think it’s sensible to make plain my intention now." But the newspapers are sceptical, particularly The Telegraph, which says in today`s leader: "The countdown to the transition of power begins today. The notion that Mr Blair could serve a full third term before handing over his office would be implausible, even if Gordon Brown were not as visibly impatient as he is." Adding to their suspicion is the news that Mr Blair "has bought a £3.6 million house in Connaught Square, near Hyde Park". Meanwhile, The Sun`s political editor Trevor Kavanagh speculates that Mr Blair may be secretly planning to go to the country next month. In view of his health, he writes, an early election "would effectively cut a year off his overall premiership while still giving him a place in the history books". [... more]

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