LONDON (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair was recovering from surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat, a day after revealing that he intends to serve a full third term if re-elected.
With his wife Cherie at his side, Blair checked into Hammersmith Hospital in west London for a relatively routine operation to restore his heart rhythm, requiring only local anesthetic and a couple of hours on the operating table.
Several hours later, he was back at Downing Street, his official residence, smiling and looking relaxed. He was to rest for the weekend before embarking on an official visit to Ethiopia next week.
"I'm absolutely fine, thanks," he said. "The hospital staff, the nurses, the doctors were brilliant."
In a statement, Hammersmith Hospital said Blair was treated for "an irregular heartbeat due to atrial flutter (using) a planned procedure called radio frequency catheter ablation".
"The procedure was successful in eliminating the atrial flutter. We consider the risk of recurrence of the problem to be very low," it said, adding that Blair should make a "rapid and complete recovery".
Blair -- who was treated for the same problem a year ago -- himself announced the operation on Thursday, explaining: "It's not particularly alarming, but it's something that you should get fixed."
One of Britain's leading cardiologists, Andrew Grace, said the delicate procedure which Blair underwent -- which involves two thin wires being inserted into the right atrium via a vein in the leg -- has a high success rate.
"It is very safe, effective and well tolerated procedure to cure these sorts of issues," he told BBC radio.
Blair also dropped a political bombshell Thursday by declaring that he intends to serve "a full third term", but no more, if his Labour Party wins the next general election.
If the election comes next year, as many expect, that means Blair -- who led Labour to power in 1997 and 2001, and who has never been so unequivocal about his long-term plans -- could be prime minister until as late as 2010.
"The decision as to who is the prime minister of the country is the decision of the British people. They're the boss," he told BBC television.
"But if I am elected, I would serve a full third term," he said.
"I do not want to serve a fourth term. I don't think the British people would want a prime minister to go on that long, but I think it's sensible to make plain my intention now."
Blair's announcement Thursday was carefully timed.
It came just hours after the close of Labour's annual conference, where Blair sought to heal lingering splits over the Iraq war, and immediately after polls closed in a parliamentary by-election in northeast England.
Labour held on to the Hartlepool constituency, formerly held by Peter Mandelson, the new European Union trade commissioner, but only by a reduced margin over the Liberal Democrats.
In making his long-term intentions so plain Thursday, Blair seemed to be making a fresh attempt at calming recurrent talk of a bitter feud with his finance minister Gordon Brown, his most likely successor, who has been waiting in the wings to take over Labour for a decade.
He was also apparently seeking to defuse speculation about his own future before news leaked out Friday that he had bought himself a large private house in Connaught Square, an exclusive corner of west London.
The Georgian terrace house, a stone's throw from Hyde Park and Edgware Road, the heart of London's Arab community, reportedly cost 3.6 million pounds (5.25 million euros, 6.51 million dollars).