GWENT MP and Northern Ireland secretary Paul Murphy was stretchered to hospital yesterday after collapsing following Tony Blair's Labour conference speech.

Mr Murphy, the Labour MP for Torfaen, fell ill in the conference hall in Brighton, shortly before he was due to address delegates about progress in the Northern Ireland peace talks.

An aide of the MP told the Argus the 56-year-old had become "queasy" during Mr Blair's keynote speech.

He said: "I was in there myself and it was very hot, the heat just overcame him."

Mr Murphy chatted to paramedics as they stretchered him from the conference and was later released from hospital feeling "much better".

The former Welsh secretary's speech, which had been expected to confirm an expanded role for a police unit reviewing unsolved murders in Northern Ireland, is to be rescheduled for later in the week.

He was given a heart scan before being taken to hospital. But paramedics ruled out problems with his heart. He also had routine tests in hospital.

Mr Murphy's spokesman said last night: "He was feeling unwell earlier today and he felt a lot worse straight after the speech.

"He was taken out as a routine procedure but everything is fine now. "It is categorically nothing to do with his heart. It was a funny turn."

Mr Murphy will deliver his speech, updating delegates on the peace process, later in the week, the Labour party said.