Whichever way you vote, someone's death is not a cause for celebration

He has spent the past decade fighting to change the law on assisted dying, a personal mission inspired by heartbreaking family experiences. Yet on the verge of victory, Kit Malthouse is also keen to praise those who spoke on the other side of this 'measured and respectful' debate

- Hanna Geissler

IT HAS been a long battle to change the law on assisted dying. But senior Tory Kit Malthouse is now cautiously optimistic that it will be won. The MP for North West Hampshire delivered one of the most powerful speeches of the Commons debate which saw MPs back Kim Leadbeater's historic bill by 330 votes to 275.

That is perhaps no surprise when you hear him recall the heartbreaking end-of-life experiences that have strengthened his belief in this reform.

Speaking in his Westminster office, Mr Malthouse, 58, says his views on the sensitive topic were first formed when he was a teenager.

"I thought this would be something that I would contemplate myself, a choice I would want," he says.

"Over the years, life experience has confirmed me in that view. Both my family and my wife's family have had members who died painful or undignified deaths."

Mr Malthouse's sister-in-law died of breast cancer 13 years ago in Canada.

He previously told a meeting of the London Assembly - on which he served from 2008 to 2016 - the family had "moved heaven and earth" so she could die at home.

"My wife and I witnessed her final few days and that made me think about these issues profoundly," the father-of-three adds.

"My uncle died of MND. He went from zero to dying in about six months, which is a pretty horrific thing but I wasn't close to his end to witness it."

The Liverpool-born businessman was elected to the Commons in 2015, just four months before MPs voted against a private members' bill from Labour's Rob Marris to introduce assisted dying.

Reflecting on that vote, Mr Malthouse says it was not a surprising outcome and the Bill "took the House a bit by surprise".

"We felt that we were on a bit of a sticky wicket and, in truth, we weren't organised in the way we have been before.