Friday, May 20 2005 12:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: British Prime Minister Tony Blair was taken to hospital with a back injury he sustained in the gym, his office has announced.

10 Downing Street said the latest medical setback would have no effect on his work schedule.

Blair was given an anti-inflammatory injection yesterday (May 19, 2005) for back pain, which he has been suffering for a few months.

He was able to leave the Royal Free Hospital in north London following treatment and return to his country residence, Chequers, in Buckinghamshire.

A Downing Street source said Blair hurt his back several weeks ago. "He thinks it was in the gym. He felt a lot of pain after one of his regular sessions and had to put up with it for quite a time. But it did not stop him doing anything."

He finally saw his doctor, who suggested a hospital visit this week. Yesterday, when he went to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, North London, he was given an anti-inflammatory injection.

Blair has turned a room in Downing Street, his office cum residence into a gym with weights and a rowing machine and it is there that he believes that the injury occurred.

Andrew Platts, a consultant radiologist who treated the Prime Minister indicated that he was unlikely to need further medical attention.

"The Prime Minister has been experiencing some back pain over the last couple of months. It has given him discomfort from time to time, but obviously hasn't stopped him doing his job," a Downing Street statement said.

"Following a referral by his GP, he had an outpatient appointment at the Royal Free Hospital (yesterday) evening.

Following treatment he went to Chequers," it said.

Platts said Blair had "been suffering from a slipped disc and has received treatment for this problem. For the majority of people, this treatment is sufficient."

But the Prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair dismissed last night's suggestion that her husband had slipped a disc.

"It is not a slipped disc," she said at a legal awards dinner in London.

Asked if he was suffering from some other back problem, she said, "I don't talk about his health, but he is not suffering from a slipped disc."

The news comes months after Blair had treatment for an irregular heartbeat. He was sedated for a 2 1/2 hour procedure to correct the condition in October last year.