A Labour peer has sparked incredulity by appearing to suggest assisted dying could be a handy tool in tackling overpopulation and climate change.
In a bizarre intervention during the Assisted Dying Bill debate, Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – once a union baron – mused on the world’s swelling population, up from 6.1 billion to 8.2 billion in just 25 years.
‘But just think what the numbers would be if abortion had not been legalised,’ he pondered, ‘… and indeed the growth of homosexuality throughout society has reduced the number of children we would have had, had the churches had their way.’
He concluded: ‘We would’ve had a very much bigger population than we presently have facing the difficulties we have with climate change.’
Cue gasps of horror. Anthony Horan of the Scottish Bishops Conference branded the remarks ‘utterly grotesque and quite terrifying’. Indeed.
Campaigners from Humanists UK and My Death My Decision hold banners and placards in support of the Assisted Dying Bill last week
Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe made a bizarre intervention during the Assisted Dying Bill debate last week, writes Andrew Pierce
Living in Clem’s shadow
The Earl Attlee, grandson of post-war Labour PM Clem Attlee, is stepping down before Labour’s hereditary peer cull.
In an interview last week, the Tory peer was asked what he’d do if he became embroiled in a scandal. ‘I’d go to Latin America instantly’, he said. ‘I would never do anything that would get me into trouble because that would let the side down. [I’m] the grandson of… one of the two greatest post war prime ministers, and possibly the greatest.
‘It’s a hell of a lot to live up to.’
Mark flies on mute
For his 60th, Mark Francois MP was treated by local activists to a flight in a Spitfire. The former Territorial Army officer admits he was – for once – ‘speechless’.
A blessed relief.
After strategy chief Paul Ovenden quit Downing Street over vile remarks about Labour MP Diane Abbott, one of her colleagues quipped: ‘There must be some mistake. Clearly the post for director of strategy has been vacant since the election!’
Overheard in the Commons
One Tory researcher to another – ‘All those voters who punished us at the election must now feel they’ve stood on a garden rake.’
Ministers were instructed to lavish praise on Donald Trump during his visit. Funny then, to recall that in 2019, eight current Cabinet members tried to bar him from addressing Parliament during his first state visit. Among them were Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, Deputy PM David Lammy and uber-ambitious Health Secretary Wes Streeting.
Treasury figures show Labour officials splurged £59,200 on flights, hotels and travel between April and June, including business class jaunts to Riyadh and Washington. Under the Tories in the same quarter in 2024? Less than £1,600. So much for a cost-of-living crisis.
SNP Dundee MP Chris Law last week tweeted that anyone attending the Windsor Castle banquet was ‘conceding that it’s acceptable to support genocide in Gaza’. But the tweet was deleted hastily. Why? SNP leader John Swinney was among the diners.
Trump’s visit got off to a scruffy start. The King’s lord-in-waiting, Viscount Hood, greeted him in an unbuttoned jacket and unpolished shoes. At least he wasn’t in a Barbour – and left his gundog at home.
