Blair helps cure stammering

Mr Blair: New Labour, new girlfriend

A former stammerer who is teaching others how to overcome the speech impediment says he learned how to conquer his problem by watching Tony Blair.

Stephen Hill, 25, spent eight months watching the UK Prime Minister's speeches on video to help him cure a stammer he had since he was four.

He has now set up a How to Stop Stammering course based on his experiences.

Mr Hill said: "Tony Blair is obviously someone who has speech training, and he is in the spotlight every day and never gets into trouble with what he says.

Phone phobia

"I was picking up things he was doing differently to me. Different things clicked at different times."

The former stammerer said he had tried numerous ways to cure his affliction, but none had worked until he tried the "Blair method".

He said his speech impediment was so severe he found it difficult to get a girlfriend and dreaded talking on the phone as no-one could understand him.

Mr Hill said studying Mr Blair's speech patterns and approach created the breakthrough.

One-off

He has now left his job as an insurance company financial adviser to run an anti-stammering course in Brixham, Devon.

He also has a girlfriend.

Despite his success with the Prime Minister, Mr Hill said he would not be using videos of Tony Blair with his students.

He said: "That was a one-off which worked for me".