Dame Esther Rantzen’s heartbreaking battle with terminal cancer has thrown the UK’s assisted dying debate into the spotlight — and sparked an emotional storm within one of Britain’s most beloved families.
The 83-year-old broadcaster, who revealed last year she has stage 4 lung cancer, has publicly supported the right to die with dignity, stating she wants the choice to avoid unbearable suffering in her final days. Her plea has been echoed by fellow national treasure Dame Prue Leith — but met with cold opposition from her own son.
Conservative MP Danny Kruger, Prue’s 50-year-old son, has provoked outrage after declaring his mother has not “seen sense” on the issue. Speaking on BBC’s Newsnight, he lamented that she hadn’t “come round” to his anti-assisted dying stance — despite her own painful experience watching her brother David slowly die from bone cancer in 2012.
The Bake Off star has long championed the right to choose, recalling the agony her brother endured even as morphine failed to ease his pain. “He was begging to die,” she recalled, “and I’ll miss him until the day I die.”
Kruger’s remarks have sparked a fierce backlash. Viewers slammed him as “arrogant,” “condescending,” and “a massive man baby” for dismissing his mother’s deeply personal position.
Dame Esther Rantzen, meanwhile, has been open about her own fears as her illness progresses. She’s even explored Dignitas, the Swiss clinic offering assisted suicide, if the UK fails to pass the law in time. “The relief of knowing I had a choice was instant,” she said in a recent interview. But she added, “I don’t want to break the law, and I shouldn’t have to.”
The Assisted Dying Bill — which would allow terminally ill adults over 18 to receive medical help to end their lives — has passed the Commons by just 23 votes and now heads to the Lords. For many like Esther and Prue, it’s a personal crusade. But for some, like Danny Kruger, it’s a line that must not be crossed — even if it means silencing their own mothers.
