Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip: Channel 4 release date - who is Prue Leith’s Tory MP son Danny Kruger?

A special Channel 4 documentary, Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip, follows Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith and her son, Conservative MP Danny Kruger, as the pair explore the world of assisted dying.

Leith supports the legalisation of assisted dying in the UK and is involved in charities which support it - but her son Danny is firmly against the policy and has spoken against it in Parliament. The pair will travel to America, where assisted dying is legal in some states, to challenge their views.

The pair will hear from both sides of the debate, and speak to a woman whose parents chose to die together. Over the course of the documentary, they will see if their minds can be changed, or if they can at least find any common ground on the issue.

Prue said that her opinion on assisted dying was formed when her brother suffered in the final days of his life - she believes that having the option to have ended his suffering would have been the kinder course of action.

Who is Danny Kruger?

Danny Kruger is a Conservative MP who has represented the constituency of Devizes in Wiltshire since 2019.

He studied at Eton College before attending Edinburgh and Oxford universities - he became then-Conservative Party leader David Cameron’s chief speechwriter in 2006, leaving the role after two years to work at a crime prevention charity.

Kruger worked as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political secretary between August and December 2019. Kruger was a supporter of Brexit in the 2016 referendum, voiced support for the legalisation of cannabis, and endorsed Suella Braverman in the July 2022 leadership race.

He has generally voted for strict immigration rules, restricting the scope of legal aid, and voted against laws to promote equality and human rights. He also said that he disagreed that women have ‘an absolute right to bodily autonomy’ during a debate on abortion.

Is assisted dying legal in the UK?

Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal under English law. According to the NHS website, euthanasia is the act of deliberately ending a person’s life in order to end their suffering. Assisted dying is the act of deliberately helping another person to end their own life.

Baroness Meacher introduced an Assisted Dying Bill into the House of Lords in May 2021 - the bill would enable those who are terminally ill to be provided with assistance to end their own life at their request. The bill passed the second reading but failed to reach the committee stage before the parliamentary session ended, therefore it failed to pass to the House of Commons.

In the US, euthanasia is illegal in all 50 states, but assisted suicide is legal in Assisted suicide is legal in 10 jurisdictions - Washington, D.C. and the states of California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, New Mexico, Maine, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Washington.

Prue and Danny’s Death Road Trip will air on Channel 4 on Thursday 16 February at 9pm. The episode will be available to watch on All4 shortly after it first airs.