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Then there were the wider problems of the Middle East, not the least of which was the vow by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the new Iranian president, to wipe Israel off the map even as his country pursued a nuclear programme in defiance of America, Europe and the regulators of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Sharon had also had to contend with a raft of personal troubles. His son Omri had resigned from the Knesset over a campaign finance scandal that has led to criminal charges.

In addition, Israeli television reported last Monday that police may have had a breakthrough in their investigation into $3m allegedly given illicitly by an Austrian tycoon to help Sharon to pay back campaign expenses.

He woke up on the day of the stroke to see a front-page headline in a leading Israeli newspaper blaring “Billionaire paid Sharon $3m!”

Above all, however, there was the issue of the prime minister’s declining health. On December 18 he had suffered a “mini-stroke” caused by a blood clot. It was not considered to be life-threatening but after his discharge from hospital two days later he was given anti-coagulants to prevent another clot.

Last Wednesday Sharon began to express apprehension to friends about the imminent heart operation, although he had laughed off questions about his health in an interview the day before with Japanese journalists.

After a busy working day in Jerusalem, Sharon was driven to his ranch, which is built on the ruins of a Palestinian village and stretches over 2,000 acres, in a motorcade protected by Shin Bet security agents. From his car he telephoned a friend, Uri Shani, who tried to cheer him up about his impending operation.

Before sitting down to eat at the ranch, Sharon told another good friend, Reuven Adler, that he was worried about the general anaesthetic. “I don’t like it at all,” he said.

“What’s the matter, Arik?” Adler replied. “You have turned into a coward all of a sudden?”

Sharon ate little of the dinner prepared by Inbal, his daughter-in-law. After moving to the sitting room he complained to his other son, Gilad, that he felt unwell. He said that he found it difficult to focus and had a strange feeling in the left side of his body. Soon he was struggling to speak at all.

An argument followed between his guards and Schlomo Segev, his personal physician, about what to do. The chief bodyguard told a paramedic on standby to take him to the nearest hospital which was 20 minutes away.

However, Segev saw that Sharon had suffered another stroke, more severe than the first one, and believed that it was safest to move him to Jerusalem in an ambulance, rather than by helicopter.

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