JACK STRAW was today flying back to Britain to be at his seriously ill father's bedside after the Prime Minister gave him permission to miss the Commonwealth Conference in Australia.

The Foreign Secretary and Blackburn MP was due to play a key role in the gathering of former members of the British Empire which starts at the weekend.

But yesterday he was told that his 84-year-old father Walter had suffered a massive heart attack and was close to death.

After rapid consultations with the Foreign Office and Ten Downing Street, it was agreed that Mr Straw should return to the UK to be with his father in a Sussex hospital.

Prime Minister Mr Blair will take the lead role in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference (CHOGM) in Brisbane which starts on Saturday.

But Mr Straw was set to take a key part in discussions by foreign ministers on a number of crucial issues, including the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe.

Westminster sources said his father was seriously ill, had suffered previous heart problems. Mr Straw place at CHOGM will be taken by his junior Minister Baroness Amos.

He was in India yesterday after meeting Afghan leaders when he heard the news of his father's illness.

After talks with London he took the earliest available flight to London Heathrow airport which was expected to land this morning.

Then he was heading straight to the South Coast hospital where his father is receiving treatment.