'Find me some obviously sick children': What PM Tony Blair told aides on hospital visit

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Downing Street officials were ordered to round up ‘obviously sick children’ for a photo call on a hospital visit by Tony Blair during the 2001 General Election.

Labour Party general secretary Peter Watt tells how he prepared for the visit to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, Norfolk.

‘En route I got a call from one of the PM’s team asking if I could make sure that there were half a dozen “obviously sick” children for Tony to meet,’ he says.

‘I spent several hours scouring hospital wards for poorly looking kids ... and had them in position seconds before Tony turned up.’

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