A history of ill-health

Tony Blair is the latest senior politician to be hit by health problems. The most recent was Opposition Leader John Smith, whose death from a heart attack in 1994 brought Tony Blair to power. The loss of Mr Smith mirrored that of Hugh Gaitskell, who died of a heart attack while Opposition leader in 1963.

The health of Conservative prime minister Sir Anthony Eden worsened after he was criticised over the Suez crisis in 1956. Already weakened by a botched gall bladder operation, he stood down in 1957. Sir Winston Churchill had several strokes during his last years in office, but they were kept from the public. He remained in office until 1955, when he was 81. Ill-health also forced Conservative Harold Macmillan to resign as prime minister in 1963.

Prominent government members who died in office include Edward Heath's Chancellor Iain MacLeod, who had a heart attack in 1970, and Labour Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland, who suffered a stroke in 1977.