Blair Recovering After Heart Procedure

British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly underwent a procedure Friday to correct an irregular heartbeat a condition that first surfaced a year ago and was recovering.

Aides refused to say whether the 2 1/2-hour procedure, called a catheter ablation, took place. But Sky News TV, quoting anonymous sources, said Blair underwent what he had called a "routine operation" before noon.

Blair, 51, looked relaxed as he was driven away from his Downing Street residence, accompanied by his wife, Cherie, in an official car at about 7:05 a.m. He told reporters he felt fine.

The medical procedure involved a local anesthetic, Blair said.

"It's a sort of fluttering. It doesn't stop you working, and indeed I've been working the last couple of months since it happened," Blair said Thursday night, just hours after appearing onstage for the closing ceremony of his Labour Party's annual convention. "I'm going to go in and have this routine operation."

Blair's condition is called supraventricular tachycardia. The British Heart Foundation said the condition, which may be accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness or fainting, can be distressing for the patient but is not considered serious.

"Many people experience them at some time, even if they have no evidence of heart disease," spokeswoman Cathy Ross said.

Blair has had his toughest two years as prime minister, facing intense opposition even from his own party to his support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The war overshadowed this week's convention, and Blair is battling to unite his party as it aims to seek a third term in power.

His announcement Thursday that he would serve a full third term followed months of speculation that he intended to step down midway through it and pass the baton to his powerful Treasury chief, Gordon Brown.

"If I'm elected I would serve a third term," Blair said. "I do not want to serve a fourth term, 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."

He took office in 1997, and his Labour Party also won elections in 2001.

Blair's condition is caused by rapid electrical activity in the upper parts of the heart and results in a sometimes irregular, rapid heartbeat.

The procedure involves inserting a catheter through the groin and up to the heart, where radio-frequency energy is used to kill off the cells conducting the extra impulses.

Blair's office at No. 10 Downing St. said the prime minister will spend Friday night in the hospital and rest over the weekend before returning to "normal duties" Monday. He will go ahead with a scheduled visit to Africa on Tuesday, the office said.

Blair said his doctor assured him the heart condition was not connected to anything more serious.