Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Tony Blair Heart Health Scare
Aired October 20, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Stress can take an awful toll on the body, but is it a factor for Tony Blair? A health scare for the British prime minister. In fact, doctors have ordered him to take it easy today.
Live to London now and Robin Oakley.
Good morning -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And the latest word from Downing Street is that Tony Blair is fit, fine, in good spirits and 100 percent recovered. His aides in Downing Street are saying that although he's going to be resting today on doctors' orders, he's still having meetings with some ministers. The only thing that's changed is that the statement he would have made to the British House of Commons today about the European Union summit he went to on Thursday and Friday, that will now be made by Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, instead.
But Tony Blair is due to resume a normal diary of engagements tomorrow, and on Wednesday he'll go for the stressful session of the prime minister's question time with parliamentarians, the usual full half-hour he'll be dealing with that.
So, they're keen to demonstrate he's getting back on the job very, very quickly. There has been no question of his deputy prime minister, John Prescott, taking over his duties or anything like that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Robin, I know you're not a doctor and you don't even play one on TV, but I have to ask you: Can you tell us more about what exactly an irregular heart beat is and what exactly doctors had to do to Tony Blair?
OAKLEY: Well, apparently, it's some kind of electrical interruption to the normal rhythm of the heart beat, which makes it go faster, which leaves you feeling breathless, perhaps a tendency to black out -- that kind of thing.
It isn't necessarily, according to the medical experts who have been talking about this through the British media, it isn't necessarily connected with stress.
But, of course, a lot of people are looking at the fact that Tony Blair has had the toughest year since he became party leader 10 years ago and prime minister 6 years ago -- the Iraq war, the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction, his appearing before the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist, Dr. David Kelly, trouble with his own party about health and education polices. It's all been piling up for Tony Blair.
But most people are saying he's actually very young in prime ministerial terms. He's only 50. He works out in the gym. He swims. He plays football with his boys. So, he's pretty fit for a prime minister, and he should be able to shrug this off -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Hopefully so. Robin Oakley reporting live from London for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired October 20, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Stress can take an awful toll on the body, but is it a factor for Tony Blair? A health scare for the British prime minister. In fact, doctors have ordered him to take it easy today.
Live to London now and Robin Oakley.
Good morning -- Robin.
ROBIN OAKLEY, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
And the latest word from Downing Street is that Tony Blair is fit, fine, in good spirits and 100 percent recovered. His aides in Downing Street are saying that although he's going to be resting today on doctors' orders, he's still having meetings with some ministers. The only thing that's changed is that the statement he would have made to the British House of Commons today about the European Union summit he went to on Thursday and Friday, that will now be made by Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, instead.
But Tony Blair is due to resume a normal diary of engagements tomorrow, and on Wednesday he'll go for the stressful session of the prime minister's question time with parliamentarians, the usual full half-hour he'll be dealing with that.
So, they're keen to demonstrate he's getting back on the job very, very quickly. There has been no question of his deputy prime minister, John Prescott, taking over his duties or anything like that -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Robin, I know you're not a doctor and you don't even play one on TV, but I have to ask you: Can you tell us more about what exactly an irregular heart beat is and what exactly doctors had to do to Tony Blair?
OAKLEY: Well, apparently, it's some kind of electrical interruption to the normal rhythm of the heart beat, which makes it go faster, which leaves you feeling breathless, perhaps a tendency to black out -- that kind of thing.
It isn't necessarily, according to the medical experts who have been talking about this through the British media, it isn't necessarily connected with stress.
But, of course, a lot of people are looking at the fact that Tony Blair has had the toughest year since he became party leader 10 years ago and prime minister 6 years ago -- the Iraq war, the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction, his appearing before the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons scientist, Dr. David Kelly, trouble with his own party about health and education polices. It's all been piling up for Tony Blair.
But most people are saying he's actually very young in prime ministerial terms. He's only 50. He works out in the gym. He swims. He plays football with his boys. So, he's pretty fit for a prime minister, and he should be able to shrug this off -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Hopefully so. Robin Oakley reporting live from London for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
