British opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband is to have surgery on his nose, his spokesman said Friday, but denied reports that the operation was to improve his nasal-sounding voice.
Miliband, 41, suffers from sleep apnoea, a condition which interrupts breathing during sleep, exacerbated by a “deviated” septum, his spokesman said.
He will have surgery on the National Health Service (NHS) in July, when the House of Commons is on its summer break.
“Ed Miliband has been diagnosed with sleep apnoea, made worse by a deviated septum. On medical advice he is having a routine operation to correct the deviated septum at the end of July with the NHS,” the spokesman said. The announcement followed a report in the Daily Mirror that Miliband was having the surgery to make him sound less bunged-up, “and help turn him into an election winner”.
Miliband was elected Labour leader in September, four months after the party was routed in general elections which swept Prime Minister David Cameron to power as head of a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
The party is hoping for a good result in local elections being held across Britain on May 5. Elections for the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales also take place on that day along with a referendum on changing Britain’s voting system, which Miliband supports.
London, April 22, 2011 (AFP)
