Mayor of London was 'carried off stage' at Glasgow COP27 after heart attack

The Mayor of London suffered a minor heart attack while on stage at COP27, he has revealed in his new book.

Sadiq Khan wrote that he was speaking at the Glasgow conference Glasgow in 2021 when “out of nowhere, I felt a knot in my chest – a kind of tightening” before being helped off stage.

Speaking of the incident for the first time in his new book, Breathe, Khan wrote that his shirt was “drenched with sweat and I felt like I was on fire”.

He recalled spending around seven hours overnight at Glasgow Royal Infirmary and had an echocardiogram, x-rays and blood tests after the scare on November 10.

The tests detected “a protein called troponin, which is released into the blood after unusual heart activity”, however he was not put on any heart medication following the incident.

Initially, the levels of troponin were “borderline”, however further testing showed they had doubled.

“There was a possibility that earlier that evening I’d had a minor heart attack,” he wrote.

“I couldn’t believe it. I felt fine. I simply didn’t believe I had had a heart attack.

“The whole situation felt unreal. In a matter of hours, I was due to give perhaps the biggest address of my mayoralty.

“And yet here I was in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, half of my body in suit trousers and the other in a hospital gown, waiting to be told if I was going to be admitted for urgent treatment.”

It comes after Khan, who recently announced a record third bid for the mayoralty of London, opened up about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) he had developed as a result of death threats, disasters and terror attacks.

Khan has said a number of events coming together caused a “cumulative” effect on his mental health, but affirmed he was not comparing it to the extreme level of PTSD that refugees or people in similar situations to himself have experienced.

He added that interactions he had with former US president Donald Trump on Twitter had led to a large increase in threats towards him on social media.

Speaking about the attack at the Finsbury Park mosque in 2017, Mr Khan said: “The terrorist was looking for me.

“He couldn’t find me so he decided to target Jeremy Corbyn and Muslims. Every time Trump says something horrible about me there’s a massive increase in hatred towards me on social media.

“Then there are people who follow Daesh (Islamic State) and al Qaida who think you can’t be a Muslim and a westerner, I get it from both sides in relation to the death threats.”

Khan also admitted he lost his mojo during the pandemic, and struggled to think clearly and to inspire his team.

Sadiq Khan’s new book Breathe: Tackling the Climate Emergency, details his goal to make London a cleaner city.