Miliband has nose op

Opposition leader Ed Miliband underwent a nose operation Wednesday to cure a snoring problem, his Labour party said, denying reports that it was to make his voice sound less nasal. The successful hour-long operation was carried out at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear Hospital in central London, said a Labour spokeswoman. "He is now recovering for a few days before going on holiday with his family," she added. Miliband revealed in April that he suffered from sleep apnoea, which interrupts breathing during sleep, made worse by a problem with the partition in his nose, known as a deviated septum. Symptoms include heavy snoring and day-time fatigue. British newspapers had reported that Miliband -- a surprise winner of the Labour leadership in September over his brother David -- hoped the procedure would make his voice sound less adenoidal and more appealing to the public. But Britain's Press Association domestic news agency quoted a source close to Miliband as saying that it was "absolutely not" intended to alter his voice. "I've spoken to him since the operation and his voice sounds exactly the same. It wasn't done in terms of changing his voice at all," the source was quoted as saying. Since becoming Labour leader Miliband had struggled to find his feet, but he has recently won plaudits for his performance in the phone-hacking scandal that shook Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the British government.