Firebrand RMT union boss Bob Crow, 52, 'thought he just had the flu' hours before he died after suffering aneurysm and massive heart attack

• The RMT union leader suffered an aneurysm and massive heart attack
• He told friends he thought he was suffering from flu hours before he died
• Died at Whipps Cross hospital in Leystonstone, east London, early today
• Doctors fought for over an hour to save him after he was taken ill
• Mr Crow was one of highest profile left-wing union leaders of generation
• The straight-talking Londoner was a passionate supporter of Millwall FC
• Ken Livingstone led tributes to Mr Crow and spoke of his shock at death
• Unrepentant about still living in a council house despite his £145,000 salary
• He leaves partner, Nicola Hoarau, 50, and four children

By Harriet Arkell and Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor and Hugo Gye
Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Bob Crow, who has died at the age of 52, told friends he thought he had flu hours before he died after suffering an aneursym and massive heart attack.
An RMT colleague said the union boss 'wasn't feeling well yesterday afternoon' but had put it down a case of flu.
But just hours later he was rushed to Whipps Cross hospital in Leytonstone, east London, by ambulance where doctors pronounced him dead this morning despite fighting to keep him alive for more than an hour.

Left-wing firebrand: Bob Crow, 52, died early this morning after suffering a massive heart attack

The RMT boss, who proudly still lived in a council house in Woodford Green, east London, leaves a partner, Nicola Hoarau, 50, and four children.  He is said to have been unwell in recent weeks and to have visited the hospital where he died today for treatment.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced his death this morning 'with the deepest regret'.
A brief statement said: 'It is with the deepest regret that RMT has to confirm that our general secretary Bob Crow sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning.
'RMT would request that all media respect the privacy of the friends and family of Bob Crow at this distressing time.'

Mr Crow drew criticism last month when he went to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with his partner, Nicola Hoarau

This morning former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, led tributes to Mr Crow, saying: 'I assumed he would be at my funeral, not me at his.'
Mr Livingstone told Sky News: 'He fought really hard for his members. The only working-class people who still have well-paid jobs in London are his members.'

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He said Mr Crow was 'broadly right on most key issues', and that if more people had fought for the conditions of the working classes 'this country would be a much better place.'
'With the passage of time people will come to see that people like Bob Crow did a very good job', he added.
Ed Miliband MP, leader of the Labour Party, said:  ‘Bob Crow was a major figure in the labour movement and was loved and deeply respected by his members.
‘I didn’t always agree with him politically but I always respected his tireless commitment to fighting for the men and women in his union. He did what he was elected to do, was not afraid of controversy and was always out supporting his members across the country.

Mr Crow was not a member of any political party and was often just as critical of Labour as of the Conservatives

Campaigning: A trades union member for more than 30 years, Mr Crow fought tirelessly for his members

‘He was a passionate defender of and campaigner for safe, affordable public transport and was a lifelong anti-fascist activist.
‘My thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues in the RMT and wider union movement at this difficult time.’
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: 'I'm shocked. Bob Crow was a fighter and a man of character.
'Whatever our political differences, and there were many, this is tragic news.  Bob fought tirelessly for his beliefs and for his members.
'There can be absolutely no doubt that he played a big part in the success of the Tube, and he shared my goal to make transport in London an even greater success.
'It's a sad day.'

Untimely death: Mr Crow leaves a partner, Nicola Hoarau, 50, and three children

Tributes: Former mayor of London Ken Livingstone said 'I assumed Bob would be at my funeral, not his', while current Mayor, Boris Johnson, said: 'I'm shocked.  Bob Crow was a fighter and a man of character'

Hospital: Doctors at Whipps Cross Hospital in east London fought for an hour to save Mr Crow's life today

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCSU, said: 'He understood that the job of the union leader is to stand up for the members you represent.
'Bob, like all of us, believed that strike action was the last resort - but when everything else had failed, and you couldn't get the employer to take you seriously, then taking strike action was the right thing to do.'
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: 'This is shocking news. Bob was an outstanding trade unionist, who tirelessly fought for his members, his industry and the wider trade union movement.
'He was always a good friend and comrade to me. We will miss him, and our thoughts are with his family and the RMT at this difficult time.'
Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA Union, tweeted: 'Devastated to hear of Bob Crow's untimely death. My thoughts are with his family, friends and the members of our sister union. RIP comrade!'
Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said: ‘I am very saddened to hear that Bob Crow has passed away, and my thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues.
‘Like many, I will remember him as a passionate voice for safety on the railways and the wellbeing of those who work on them.
‘While we may not always have agreed on how to run our railways, he was a powerful advocate who led his organisation from the front and made an important contribution to the debate around the future of rail services in this country.’
Mr Crow, who just last night defended his £145,000-a-year pay package in a robust interview on BBC Radio 4, often faced criticism for living in a housing association home in Woodford Green, east London.

Passionate: Mr Crow, pictured at the TUC conference in Bournemouth last September, fought for his union

In November he said: 'I was born in a council house, I'll die in a council house.'
Criticised for this choice, Mr Crow recently said he had 'no moral duty' to move out of his home: 'I was born in a council house; as far as I'm concerned, I will die in one.'
Mr Crow was the last of the archetypal left-wing firebrand union leaders, happy to take the fight to the government of the day to stand up for his workers.
When former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, he said: ‘I won’t shed one single tear over her death.
'She destroyed the NHS and destroyed industry in this country and as far as I'm concerned she can rot in hell.’
A hate figure for millions of commuters whose journeys were disrupted by strikes ordered by the RMT, he was popular among his members for getting them better pay deals.
A leading figure of the Awkward Squad of left-wing union leaders, he was seen as hugely successful.
But his six-figure pay deal, taste for exotic holidays and insistence on still living in a council house meant he attracted criticism.

The controversial RMT leader was a hate figure for millions of commuters, but popular amongst union members

'I WAS BORN IN A COUNCIL HOUSE, I WILL DIE IN ONE' - BOB CROW'S MOST FAMOUS QUOTES

'What do you want me to do?  Sit under a tree and read Karl Marx every day?'
Defending a holiday in Rio on the eve of strikes

‘I am worth it, yeah.’
Defending his £145,000 pay package
‘He squandered a massive landslide from an electorate hungry for change, poured billions of public pounds into private pockets and accelerated the growing gap between rich and poor.’

On Tony Blair
‘I won’t shed one single tear over her death. She destroyed the NHS and destroyed industry in this country and as far as I'm concerned she can rot in hell.’

On Margaret Thatcher
'I was born in a council house; as far as I'm concerned, I will die in one.'
On not giving up his council house 

Just yesterday he defended his £145,000 salary, declaring he was ‘serving civilisation’ in his role and was ‘worth it’.
In his last interview he told BBC Radio Four: ‘I am worth it, yeah. Our members, in the main, have had pay rises every single year right the way through austerity.’
In a wide-ranging interview he also defended big pay rises for MPs and his decision not to buy his own home.
On MPs’ pay, he said: ‘Anyone in the public sector, we are all civil servants, we are serving civilisation.
'That is what a civil servant does, and they should be paid accordingly. I do believe they [MPs] should have a pay rise.’
Mr Crow was planning to stand for election to the European Parliament in May, for his own No2EU party bankrolled by the RMT.
He hoped to portray himself as the left-wing version of Ukip leader Nigel Farage, demanding a referendum to get Britain out of the EU.
Launching his election bid last year, Mr Crow said: ‘Working people across Europe are sick and tired of the EU business model of fiscal fascism and polls in Britain show that voters want a referendum on EU membership. So why not give them a referendum?
'The only rational course is to leave the EU and rebuild Britain with socialist policies.'
A life-long Millwall fan, he listed football, boxing and darts among his interests in Who's Who.

Man of the people: Mr Crow, pictured outside City Hall earlier this year, was proud of his working class roots

Challenged over his decision to remain a council tenant, he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme: ‘I’m the only person in my road paying the rent - everyone else is on social.
'Every single person down my road - because there are only nine houses - is on benefits. Who really is the mug?’
Last month, on the eve of walkouts over ticket offices, he was pictured topping up his tan on Rio's Copacabana beach.
He hit back at his critics in trademark style, declaring: 'What do you want me to do?  Sit under a tree and read Karl Marx every day?'
Never a member of the Labour party, Mr Crow did join the Communist Party in the early 1980s.
He briefly joined Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party, but in recent years had not been a member of a political party.

Council house: Despite earning £145,000 a year, Crow insisted: I was born in a council house, I'll die in one' 

Archive: RMT boss Bob Crow defends his lifestyle

The outspoken communist who went from working class roots to £145,000 a year - but proudly refused to leave his council house

Bob Crow rose from a modest background to running an organisation with 80,000 members on a six-figure salary - but he insisted he always remained faithful to his working-class origins.
He was born in Shadwell, east London, in 1961, but the family soon moved to a council house in Hainault.
His father George worked at the Ford factory in Dagenham, where he was active in union politics, while Bob's mother Lillian worked as a cleaner to help the family make ends meet.

Younger days: Mr Crow, pictured in 1992, left, and 2001, right,  began his trade union career in 1983 with the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) - in 1990 it merged with other unions to become the RMT

However, tragedy struck when Lillian died of bowel cancer aged 48, at a time when Bob was just eight years old and his brother Richard - later an ardent Thatcherite - was 11.
As a teenager, Bob attended Kingswood Upper School, a secondary modern near his home, but he left at the age of 16 and started working on the London Underground.
He joined the National Union of Railwaymen for social reasons while working on the rail tracks and as a lumberjack clearing trees from Tube lines.
During the Thatcher years Mr Crow became increasingly active within the union - he joined his first Tube strike the day after he returned home from his honeymoon in 1982, and the next year was elected as a local union representative.
He developed an increasing reputation as a firebrand who advocated confronting the Prime Minister and her Conservative government, and rose to become assistant general secretary by the time the NUR became part of the RMT union.
Mr Crow was elected to run the RMT in 2002, catapulting him to national fame - and notoriety - as the most radical of a new generation of union leaders.
Despite the traditional links between the unions and Labour party, Mr Crow fought against the public service reforms of Tony Blair's Government, once saying that New Labour's only legacy was the rise of the BNP.

Picket line: Mr Crow, third from right, with RMT members during a strike in 1995

He was for many years a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, before joining Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party.
Some of his views were at odds with the centre-Left - he supported the death penalty and lobbied for Britain to leave the EU, which he regarded as a capitalist conspiracy.
Mr Crow was a fierce adversary of Tories such as Boris Johnson, but he also clashed with the previous Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who accused him of running a 'protection racket' for Tube workers.
He became a hate figure for the Right, who accused him of hypocrisy for staying in his council house in Woodford despite his £145,000 salary.
However, the outspoken union boss always refused to apologise, saying that he deserved his pay packet and insisting he had a right to live in the home which he shared with his partner Nicola Hoarau, an RMT employee.

Relentless: The union leader protesting against ticket office closures in October last year

His most recent stint in the headlines came when he called a 48-hour Tube strike last month, bringing chaos to the streets of London.
He always drove a hard bargain for his members, pushing Tube drivers' basic pay up to £44,000, and was rewarded by an increase in the size of his union from 50,000 to 80,000.
Outside politics, Mr Crow was a passionate supporter of Millwall Football Club, where he would go to watch games with his father.
He was also - somewhat unexpectedly - fanatically interested in the weather, once saying: 'I spend ages looking at weather maps and graphs.
'I have a barometer in the house and if I could have been anything else other than a union official I would have been a footballer - or a weatherman.'

‘I don't like to be gobby or like to be flash or arrogant.  I don't like that.’

How would he like to be seen: ‘I suppose talkative, a man with an opinion. And perhaps sometimes where some people might keep their mouth shut I have expressed a point of view where sometimes you should listen a bit more.’
But does he have regrets about going too far? Far from it: ‘No, I love it.’
Often characterised as a larger-than-life character, a pantomime villain, he tried to play down his public image.
‘I find pantomimes quite boring actually. I wouldn’t want to be in a pantomime. Every time you went to a pantomime you had to call this person the pantomime dame.
‘She would pull back the curtain and say watch out watch out, here they come, here they come.
‘Of course at the end of the day to be a General Secretary of a union you have got to be larger than life. Just don’t want a to walk around with a grey suit eating a cheese sandwich every lunchtime.
‘Or you do you want someone who has got a bit of spark about them?’
London Mayor Boris Johnson praised Mr Crow today for standing up for his union members.
But the two men frequently clashed, including in one bizarre episode when Mr Crow called into the Mayor’s radio phone-in to berate him for refusing to meet face to face.
Mr Crow insisted he behaved as a ‘grown up’ while Mr Johnson indulged in Punch and Judy Politics.
The Tory Mayor was a ‘good laugh’ on shows like Have I Got News For You, ‘very quick, bla, bla, bla…’ but was to blame for the absence of talks between them.
His huge pay package from the RMT often attracted criticism. Said to be worth £145,000 with pensions and perks added in, it was at odds with the more modest salaries of the members he represented
But against the sound of knives scraping plates when questioned over the salary, he was adamant: ‘I am worth it, yeah. Our members, in the main, have had pay rises every single year right the way through austerity. They get good pensions, good holidays, they could be better.’
It was not just his own members he was prepared to defend. Despite his fractious relationship with politicians of all parties, he argued MPs also deserved to be paid more.
‘I will be honest. On MPs I do believe they should have a pay rise.
Some people like to think that MPs should live in a tent, they should have four to a room.
I want my MP, particularly those who don’t live in London and have to travel down to work in London, to have decent accommodation to go home to.
‘I want them to have a proper meal. I don’t want them to scramble around the place but I do believe that the MP should be paid adequately.
‘Or what we will get in my view is a lot of people not going into parliament because they will say “we are going to lose out”.
‘Anyone in the public sector, we are all civil servants, we are serving civilisation.
'That is what a civil servant does, and they should be paid accordingly.’
Challenged over his decision to remain a council tenant, he said he was the only person in his road paying his way: ‘I’m the only person in my road paying the rent - everyone else is on social.
'Every single person down my road - because there are only nine houses - is on benefits. Who really is the mug?’
He said he knows everyone on his road, but would not necessarily all them friends.
‘I have lived there for a long time but we are not in each others’ houses.’
He seemed more at home in fact in Westminster’s more exclusive eateries, rubbing shoulders with the political class he claimed to rail against.
After polishing off his lunch, he revealed he hoped to return to Inn the Park, declaring: ‘That was beautiful. I am bringing my wife down here.’