Update on Alex’s condition from The Independent:
Spy chief in coma as doctors battle mystery illness
By Kim Sengupta
Saturday, 5 July 2008Britain’s most senior intelligence officer is said to be showing no sign of recovery after being in a coma for five days with a mysterious illness which doctors have so far failed to diagnose.
The police and the security service have ruled out any possibility that Alex Allan, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), was poisoned. Toxicological tests are being carried out, however, to ascertain whether there is anything in his bloodstream which would explain his collapse.
Mr Allan, who briefs the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on security matters, was appointed to his post by Gordon Brown last autumn. He did not come from a security background and was remarkably open about his personal details, posting his address and telephone number in his Facebook-style website. But Scotland Yard said there was nothing to suggest he was the victim of an assassination attempt.