Barbara - are you against the proposition that assistance to end life should remain illegal on principle, no matter what, or is your objection to the method prescribed in the Bill? In your view, is there an acceptable way for it to happen?
There is something bizarre about the Prime Minister framing this as fulfilling a promise he made to an elderly television presenter freely and of his own accord, now making the promise into some strange, almost religious obligation. But it's increasingly common: write something in your manifesto, then justify it no matter what because it's fulfilling a manifesto commitment. Yes! That you decided to make!
This wasn’t even in the manifesto, if I recall correctly. It has flown from a promise to a celebrity to a private member’s bill without that intermediate step. And the BBC are allowing the celebrity to misrepresent the effect of the vote on second reading of the Bill into the bargain
Barbara - are you against the proposition that assistance to end life should remain illegal on principle, no matter what, or is your objection to the method prescribed in the Bill? In your view, is there an acceptable way for it to happen?
There is something bizarre about the Prime Minister framing this as fulfilling a promise he made to an elderly television presenter freely and of his own accord, now making the promise into some strange, almost religious obligation. But it's increasingly common: write something in your manifesto, then justify it no matter what because it's fulfilling a manifesto commitment. Yes! That you decided to make!
This wasn’t even in the manifesto, if I recall correctly. It has flown from a promise to a celebrity to a private member’s bill without that intermediate step. And the BBC are allowing the celebrity to misrepresent the effect of the vote on second reading of the Bill into the bargain
That's right, not even a self-imposed manifesto commitment, but a voluntary pledge to a celebrity.