Jonathan Dimbleby declares 'tide is turning' on assisted dying as he backs Esther Rantzen

Few are as well tuned in to the strength of public feeling as the political doyen, part of a British television dynasty.

And the harrowing plight of his stricken younger brother Nicholas, diagnosed with Motor neurone disease last year, has reinforced his opinion that seismic change is imminent.

The historian and royal biographer, 79, host of Any Questions? on Radio 4, said: “There is a shift and I think we are at a moment of real change. I hope all political parties, in the run-up to a general election, would allow MPs to vote feely on the principle of the right to die. No party should shy away from that, because to do so would be wrong and gutless.

“I feel it is deeply wrong assisted dying is [currently] denied but my instinct is that there will be a debate in the House of Common perhaps via a private members’ bill but that in any case legislation will follow and we find ourselves joining that growing number of countries allowing people choice.”

Mr Dimbleby, a close friend of King Charles and an authority on royalty and the constitution, comes from British broadcasting blue blood. His father Richard was a Second World War correspondent who went on to become presenter of the BBC TV current affairs programme Panorama. His older brother David, 85, anchored the BBC’s general election coverage between 1979 and 2017 and Question Time until 2018.

Mr Dimbleby has been a pro-choice advocate for more than 30 years but his sibling’s battle with MND has refocused his efforts to campaign for reform.

He is backing the Daily Express crusade and has signed a petition demanding an immediate Commons debate on the issue – the first since 2015 – and a free vote.

Almost 85,000 people have now backed our push in conjunction with charity Dignity in Dying and lifelong campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, 83, who has terminal lung cancer.

Speaking on Sunday night Mr Dimbleby, who saw his 78-year-old brother at the weekend, said: “Despite the great efforts of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, his NHS team and his own extraordinary resolve, every day is a terrible endurance test for him. He has not an ounce of self-pity but wants readers to know what it is really like. So, writing on a pad (Nicholas can still use his hands) he said ‘I can’t speak, I can’t taste, I am fed through a tube into my stomach, I can’t control my bowels, the drugs make it impossible for me to read, I choke, and some days every breath is a terrible effort. If my saying this assists the cause of Dignity In Dying, I am glad to be of use’.”

Married father-of-four Nicholas, a nationally-renowned sculptor who was fit, active and mentally agile, was diagnosed in February and is being supported with unstinting love and support of his family.

Mr Dimbleby said: “Nicholas is inevitably deteriorating and is now virtually impossible to understand, which is very frustrating for him because he is still very much alert mentally. He gets very tired and is getting weaker as the disease strikes different parts of his body. He needs a great deal of care. His immediate family, Kay and their four children, provide all the support they can. He is bearing up under those circumstances.

“MND is as cruel as any disease because sufferers’ metal faculties are intact, but their body becomes so feeble that they are fortunate if they can communicate with their eyes. And that is a great predicament especially, as Nicholas was, you were so fit, strong and active.

“His own situation has changed, and may change again. Nicholas has long been in favour of the right to die, even back when he was lugging heavy bronze sculptures and great big lumps of clay.

“Early after his diagnosis I remember him saying, ‘I’m not going to allow myself to become a trussed up chicken’. He said ‘I want my end to be as if I were skiing down a slope and there is a precipice at the end. But before, I want to turn off, sit down with friends, enjoy a drink and gently fade away’.

“Nicholas constantly says how fortunate he is to be surrounded by people who love him and is grateful to have a carer. He has always said how unimaginably difficult it must be for someone who is isolated, or without the means to be able to travel to Dignitas and who might be left with no option than to end their life by the most extreme means possible.

“He loves his home and now says he wants to die there. He has been told those with his particular MND can die without pain, or significant pain.

“He has choking fits and they are terrifying and I could imagine there might be a moment when he says ‘I wish I could go’. If he were to change his mind now it would be extremely difficult to have a dignified death.”

The fight for legal protection to allow those suffering with terminal illnesses to end their lives on their own terms has been a decades-long struggle, yet Britain remains an outlier as assisted dying remains illegal. Many faced with death sentences, like Dame Esther, have been forced to sign up to suicide clinics. As the law currently stands, the scandal sees families face murder or manslaughter charges, and up to 14 years in prison, if they accompany a loved one abroad.

Last year the brothers recorded The Bright Side of Life, a deeply-moving two-part conversation from Nicholas’s kitchen table in Devon where he mused on living with a fatal disease and his desire for control over how he dies.

Mr Dimbleby said: “I have always supported the right to die on the grounds that the right to live our lives through our own choices, which we regard as fundamental, should not be denied as you approach death. It is very out of touch. Nicholas’s terminal illness has not changed my view, it has only confirmed my view, and he should not be in a position to worry about this.

“His illness, knowing he has to endure this and there is no timescale, no certainty, and rapid deterioration, is an intense cloud looming over our family, like being in a lightning storm.

“Nicholas is someone who has always been very positive and loves life. He is a very creative person, he has always made things, Britain is dotted with Nicholas Dimbleby sculptures in public places and private collections. That has been his working life, so it must be very difficult not to be able to do that. I don’t want to speak for him, but I imagine it must be really terrible to wake up in the middle of the night aware of your predicament.

“And I imagine there are a great many people also suffering in silence. We have passed all sorts of laws, many we now take for granted, like legalising homosexuality and criminalising racial discrimination. “Time will come when we look back and ask ourselves how it was we denied people this right with the proper safeguards to protect them from being exploited.

“I respect those who believe, on whatever grounds, that to end one’s life deliberately. But to give others the right to do is not to deny them their right to follow their own conscience.

“One argument against assisted dying is that people might do so simply to relieve the burden of suffering on their loved ones but why shouldn’t that be a factor in their decision? We are always urged to think of others as well as ourselves in life. Why not in death?

“Historically, the principal opposition to assisted dying came from those with religious faiths. Now they have shifted the argument to talk about vulnerable people who might be exploited by their relatives.

“I know of no such evidence but that is why there would be strong safeguards to guard against such unspeakable behaviour.”

* To sign our petition visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/653593