Lord Ashcroft suffers kidney & liver failure hours after 'pig-gate' David Cameron book is published

[Turborama]

Source: The Mirror (UK)

Lord Ashcroft suffered a life threatening illness and spent 18 days in intensive care, it has emerged.

The billionaire Tory peer behind the ‘pig-gate’ claims in ‘Call Me Dave’ is said to have been struck down with septic shock and liver and renal failure.

Ashcroft missed an event to promote his controversial David Cameron biography last night as details of his ‘life-threatening’ illness emerged.

Guests at the Westminster event were said to have been stunned into silence after being told he fell ill on September 22 and spent 18 days in intensive care.

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lord-ashcroft-suffers-kidney-liver-6663390

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The Channel 5 report revealed that Ashcroft was first taken ill in Turkey, where he had been visiting war graves to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign, on 22 September, the day after the Daily Mail started serialising his book.

The serialisation began under a front-page headline with the word “Revenge”, after it revealed that Ashcroft had been promised a substantial government job by David Cameron.

Ashcroft flew to the Turks and Caicos on 23 September after a doctor administered antibiotics. But his condition deteriorated on his arrival and he was admitted to the National Hospital on Providenciales. The following day he was flown by air ambulance to Cleveland.

-snip-

At the book launch, his co author, Isabel Oakeshott, the former political editor of the Sunday Times, revealed that David Cameron had advised her not to work with the peer. “I just really fear for you,” Oakeshott quoted the prime minister as saying after he warned that she might become caught up in a “terrible fight” between him and the peer.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/oct/19/lord-ashcroft-misses-david-cameron-biography-launch-due-to-serious-illness

Polonium can do that to you...

[MADem]

1. You don't recover from polonium. He's gotten better.

Probably those gin blossoms on his cheeks give a clue to how his condition might have been aggravated...

?itok=HzBxZBaE

[enlightenment]

3. Or the red spots could be

symptomatic of slapped-cheek syndrome, which is quite prevalent in the UK and more noticeable in light-skinned people. Not necessarily indicative of a drinking problem unless you have other evidence to support it, especially since there are plenty of pictures of the man that don't show that redness.

[MADem]

5. I'm not comfortable "defending" Cameron, but all I can say is if you're telling stories

about a drunken asshole, the odds are pretty good that if you're not the bartender, you're partaking yourself.

Birds of a feather, and all that.

[enlightenment]

11. Never thought you were defending Cameron,

I'm just uncomfortable drawing those kinds of conclusions (and have personal experience with fifth disease - slapped cheek syndrome - so I'm familiar with what it looks like).

For all I know, Ashcroft could be (and having written a tell-all, I lean in the direction of "is&quot as much of a tool as Cameron . . . I just don't know if he's an alcoholic.

No harm, no foul, and no offense intended - just an early morning knee-jerk, red-cheeked response.

[MADem]

12. A person doesn't have to be an alcoholic to enjoy "gin blossoms."

It's more a function of capillaries and complexion.

[enlightenment]

13. I agree that there are many

conditions that can cause redness. I guess in my area we don't refer to those as 'gin blossoms'.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. I think you're reading a bit too much into both picture and story

Cameron may often have been drunk as a 20 year old student, but that is pretty much 'the standard lifestyle' for British students who can afford to drink. These days, people take the piss out of Cameron for having unnaturally smooth and unblemished skin (Steve Bell portrays him as wearing a condom over his head, for instance). Ashcroft never claimed to have been at the party with the pig's head (he said another Tory had been there, and had said they had a photo to prove it happened), so there's no link from it to Ashcroft drinking.

'Asshole' can describe both of them, however.

[Sunlei]

2. He is very lucky to have survived septic shock. Most people do not.

He must have excellent quality medical care.

[wordpix]

4. flown to Cleveland from Turks & Caicos? Cleveland?

I would rather have been flown to a top NYC hosp or Johns Hopkins in Balto, but Cleveland?

[AngryAmish]

6. Cleveland Clinic?

Great hospital I am told.

[magical thyme]

10. makes sense. article says he suffered heart damage

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lord-ashcroft-suffers-kidney-liver-6663390
He also told his followers about a TV report in Belize covering his health, which said he had suffered liver and renal failure resulting in heart damage.

He was also treated for internal bleeding and his condition was exasperated by his diabetes.



http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/heart
Heart & Vascular Institute

The latest information about heart & vascular disorders, treatments, tests and prevention from the No. 1-ranked heart program in the United States.

[CTyankee]

16. Jeez, how much did this guy drink, anyway?

this is awful...

[magical thyme]

17. not necesssarily anything if it was a severe bacterial infection

That he was treated with antibiotics prior to being shipped out suggests a bacterial infection. An intestinal lesion also would be consistant with contaminated food or water.

"and internal bleeding from a leaking intestinal lesion near his stomach that was cauterized and clipped"

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. He's also a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic

http://my.clevelandclinic.org/about-cleveland-clinic/overview/leadership/board-of-trustees

(they have about 100)

[magical thyme]

8. his condition was "exasperated" really???

"He was also treated for internal bleeding and his condition was exasperated by his diabetes."

That's the 2nd time recently that I've seen "exasperated" substituted for "exacerbated." Computer spellcheck error? Or increasingly illiterate writers and editors?

[Helen Borg]

9. At least they did not write

"You would of think"

[MADem]

14. Probably a computer wrote the doggone article!!! nt