(2) Moran took it on his own head to lie to Churchill about his heart attack in Washington because this diagnosis would have crippled Churchill and wrecked American esteem of Britain as an ally.

Did this reason of state justify a physician concealing the truth from his patient and the public?

(3) Moran never used the words dementia or senility. Moran and Brain knew of Churchill's strokes before he fought and won the 1951 election, let alone those in the following four years.

Should they have tried to prevent his return to office?

(4) Moran and Brain's truthful bulletin about Churchill was banned by Salisbury and Butler, who wrote instead an untrue one for them to sign.

Should doctors sign a bulletin that conceals the truth from the public?

(5) Moran's book is a major contribution to the Churchill saga, but it broke confidentiality. In France, François Mitterrand's doctor was struck off for revealing the President's prostate cancer eight days after his death. Currently, the French Justice Minister's obstetrician faces censure for boasting that he got her back to work in record time after her Caesarian section. 

How long should a doctor wait to publish before breaking confidential personal clinical details?

(6) Attlee's doctors ordered him to take five weeks' bed rest in St Mary's that cured his duodenal ulcer, but led to the Labour Party being out of power for 13 years.

Would banning visitors have made any difference? 

(7) Sir Horace Evans combined the clinical acumen of Lord Horder with the great charm of Lord Dawson. He considered that a gall bladder operation should be done by a biliary surgeon, and gave three names to Eden, who insisted on a general surgeon.

Should Evans have frightened Eden by listing all the mishaps that could, and indeed did, happen after a cholecystectomy?

(8) Horace Evans allowed Eden his lifetime ambition by succeeding Churchill in April 1955, and then had to send him off to Jamaica on 19 November 1956.

Could he or should he have intervened earlier, perhaps avoiding the Suez debacle?

The many doctors who have written about the major illnesses of world leaders concur that the public are entitled to full disclosure of candidates' medical data. I agree.