Labour chairman to have surgery

Mr McCartney has been an MP since 1987

Labour chairman Ian McCartney will undergo heart by-pass surgery next week, the party has announced.

Mr McCartney, MP for Makerfield, near Wigan, since 1987, will be off work for about three months and is expected to make a complete recovery.

Mr McCartney, 54, was promoted to the Cabinet in 2003 and survived Tony Blair's reshuffle last year. He worked as a seaman before entering parliament.

He said he was receiving "first class treatment and care".

Mr McCartney apologised on Labour's behalf last week to 82-year-old anti-war protester Walter Wolfgang, who was ejected from the party's annual conference in Brighton after heckling Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.