Kirstie Allsopp makes emotional plea in favour of assisted dying

Kirstie Allsopp has revealed that her mother's fear of a 'painful death' from liver cancer haunted her final years, as she made an emotional plea in favour of assisted dying.

The Channel 4 star, 53, took to social media as she spoke of how she believes palliative care would not have helped her 26-year battle with cancer, including liver and breast.

The Location, Location, Location co-host added that her mother was allergic to opiates, and suffered 'terrifying' hallucinations when she took them - leaving her unable to take strong pain-relief medication.

Lady Fiona died in 2014 aged 66, after first being diagnosed when Kirstie, the eldest of her four children, was 17.

An interior decorator, she subsequently endured a mastectomy, lumpectomy, a hysterectomy, had her liver taken out, several rounds of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Ms Allsopp's post comes just days before legislation for an Assisted Dying Bill will be debated in Parliament, which could allow High Court judges to give the final sign-off in cases where terminally ill people want to end their lives.

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, she said: 'Fear of a painful death from liver cancer haunted my mother’s last few years. 

'She was allergic to opiates, no amount of palliative care would have helped, she survived for nine years after a three-to-six months diagnosis. But I wish she’d known that she has the power to chose how and when.'

Lady Fiona was the granddaughter of Lord Harry McGowan, a Scottish industrialist. She had four children by former Christie's chairman Lord Hindlip, who died earlier this year aged 83.

She was buried in the garden of Ms Allsopp's Dorset home in a wicker coffin next to Benji, the family pony, in 2014. 

The presenter later added: 'The Assisted Dying Bill is about the right to chose. Surely, if we can chose whether or not to start our child’s life, we should be allowed to chose whether or not to end our own life? 

'Using this Bill to campaign about hospice care or NHS funding is completely wrong.

'However good palliative care is there are some people whose pain cannot be eased. My mother suffered from terrifying opiate-induced hallucinations. 

'She discovered this during her cancer surgery, and was terrified of a recurrence of them due to the need for pain control.'

Ms Allsopp only realised that her mother was dying when her sister went to get Christmas decorations from their loft and discovered Lady Fiona had already bought a coffin and hidden it in the attic.

She died just a few months after Miss Allsopp disclosed that her younger sister Sofie, also a TV presenter, had undergone a double mastectomy to lower the risk of developing breast cancer, which has afflicted the family’s female relations for generations. 

Read More

I buried my mother in the garden says Kirstie Allsopp: Star reveals how she followed her mum's wishes for discreet and private funeral

Describing her mother's death, she said: 'There was always a lot of very dark humour in our house. When Mum was alive her grave was dug so it was all ready. She wanted to be near Benji, our old pony’s grave.

‘She managed not to die on anybody’s birthday. She managed not to die when anyone was out of the country.

'It’s like she died when everyone had time to deal with it. We buried her in the garden the next day.

‘We lifted her into the wicker coffin and we put her on the trailer on the back of the tractor and drove her up the garden.

'It was very important for her that it was very small – no strangers were involved of any kind, we had to do absolutely everything. For Mum, it was all to do with discretion and privacy.’

It's understood the eventual vote on the Assisted Dying Bill will not be whipped by the main political parties, meaning MPs are free to vote with their conscience rather than facing pressure to follow a certain party line.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood has branded the policy a 'slippery slope towards death on demand' in a letter to her constituents.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has also been critical, but Keir Starmer has hinted he will back the plan - which gained momentum after a campaign by terminally ill TV star Esther Rantzen.

As politicians wrestle with their positions, polls have suggested that the public supports the principle of assisted dying - although there are doubts about how it would be implemented in practice.

Research by More in Common has found nearly two thirds favour the idea, with just 13 per cent opposed and 22 per cent unsure.

The poll found the majority of Brits regard strict safeguards as 'essential' to an assisted dying law.

However, 71 per cent said it was possible to create policy with the right protections, against 29 per cent who thought it was not.

The bill was seen as happening at about the right pace by 51 per cent, while a further 13 per cent said it was too slow. Nearly a fifth said it was happening too quickly.