Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “spared” a doctor who was arrested for assisting in the death of a man in 2009. “Dear Keir Starmer, who’s now the prime minister, decided that no further action should be taken because no jury would convict me”, Dr Michael Irwin told The Guardian.
Keir Starmer was director of public prosecutions when Irwin was arrested in 2009 after he paid £1,500 in costs for a terminally ill man to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland in 2007 to end his life.
Dr Irwin, who had been struck off the medical register in 2005, wrote to Starmer following his arrest and admitted to helping Raymond Cutkelvin to die after he was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour.
The now-retired GP also accompanied four other people to Dignitas, though he was only arrested for helping Mr Cutkelvin. However, Starmer refused to prosecute Irwin because he believed his actions were motivated “at least in part by personal sympathy”.
Commenting years later, Irwin said that Starmer is a “very good person… and I’m sure he wants to see the law change too”.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has tabled an assisted suicide bill for the terminally ill that will be voted on by the House of Commons on 29 November. SPUC is urging all people opposed to the “dangerous and irresponsible” proposal to lobby their MPs with all haste.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “Prime Minister Starmer has already shown a worrying lack of concern for the dangers posed by assisted suicide laws, which he personally supports. The failure to safeguard the public, now and in the 2000s, ought to concern all British citizens.
“This case shows just how far some people will go to suppress an inconvenient truth that is clearly a matter of ‘public interest’, and it calls Starmer’s judgement into question. Politicians have a duty to protect citizens from harm. This is the one vital concern that must inform the assisted suicide debate.”
Similar stories
Opposition to “dangerous” assisted suicide bill mounts as first vote is announced for 29 November
MPs to vote on assisted suicide bill for England and Wales that will kill vulnerable people
Palliative care doctors slam assisted suicide bill as “cheaper solution” to real medicine