Prue Leith tells her Conservative MP son Danny Kruger to ‘man up’ as she clashes with him over assisted dying and insists she should be ‘in control of my own life’

• Prue Leith, 82, blasted her Tory MP son for his views he shared on assisted dying
• The Bake Off host is an advocate for euthanasia, unlike MP Danny Kruger
• She believes everyone should have the choice and that her son needs to ‘man up’

Bake Off host Prue Leith berated her own son, Tory MP Danny Kruger, for his opposing views on assisted dying, telling him to ‘man up’.

Kruger recently said a change in the law was a risk, as ‘there are a lot of people who want Granny and Grandpa to hurry up and die’.

While yesterday Prue stressed that ‘everybody should have the choice’ with regards to assisted dying.

The statement may be the start of a family rift, as in an interview with Piers Morgan on TalkTV Leith said there was going to be a ‘real problem’.

The 82-year-old admitted she clashes with Danny regularly, and have again following his efforts to fight any change regarding this aspect to end of life care.

The Wiltshire MP also divided opinions recently when he said he does not think women have ‘an absolute right to bodily autonomy’ following the American abortion ban.

Prue Leith, 82, said that if she had six months left to live she may chose assisted dying and that her son, Tory MP Danny Kruger, would need to ‘man up and bare it [her death] a few months earlier or a few weeks earlier’

Piers Morgan called the scenario of Prue advocating for assisted dying while her son campaigned in parliament against it a ‘fascinating situation’

Prue said she hopes she will manage to persuade her son on the topic of assisted dying before he eventually votes on the matter (Mr Kruger pictured discussing abortion last month)

Danny Kruger is the son of Prue and her late husband Rayne Kruger, who died in December 2002, aged 80.

He is a former speechwriter to David Cameron – and dreamt up the famous ‘hug a hoodie’ line and a member of a free-market think-tank, the Legatum Institute.

He has been described as ‘a passionate Christian’ who brought the Gospel to convicted criminals through the prisons charity Only Connect, which he founded, and is also a vocal supporter of legalisation of cannabis.  

Mr Kruger is an Old Etonian and his ‘hug a hoodie’ line came back to bite him in 2008 when he and a friend tried to tackle a moped thief and was attacked, ‘with all the rage of Cain’ by a ‘rat faced boy’.

Mr Kruger said he still stood by the idea that love ‘is a crime fighting device’.

The MP received an MBE in 2017 for his charitable work. 

He has been the Tory MP for Devizes in Wiltshire since 2019 and was a Political Secretary to the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson – a key aide who acts as the PM’s troubleshooter – the same year.

Most recently, in August 2020 Kruger was photographed breaching the rules on the mandatory wearing of masks on public transport. He apologised and stated that he ‘simply forgot’ and later said he disliked ‘absurd masks’.

Then in June last year, Mr Kruger was fined after his Jack Russell puppy, Pebbles, caused a stampede when he chased a 200-strong herd of deer in London’s Richmond Park.

He was fined £120 and told him he must pay £575 costs and a £34 surcharge, totalling £719.

Prue explained she felt her son’s statement may impact their relationship, she said: ‘Well, that’s gonna be a real problem.

‘We are devoted to each other, and he generally has very principled objections. I think he’s quite wrong.

‘First of all, I’m hoping that he will not manage to muster all his mates in Parliament and vote against it and that I will manage to persuade him before I get there.’

Piers laughed and added: ‘It’s a fascinating situation where your own son is literally in the Houses of the Parliament campaigning for the complete opposite.’

‘Many families have disagreements about all sorts of things we happen to have one about this,’ she responded.

‘But I really think I honestly believe that it I should be in control of my own life.

‘I mean, I think the idea that, that somehow human life is so sacred, and it’s sacred to whom, it’s not sacred to me and it’s my life?’

Prue suggested she would only having a conversation about euthanasia if she was within six months of dying.

‘I don’t believe that my son would ruin, make my last six months even more distressing, by refusing me that,’ she said.

‘No, I’m sorry. When it comes to my own life, it’s my life. Tough he’s going to lose me within six months anyway. So, man up and bare it a few months earlier or a few weeks earlier.’

Prue feels so strongly about the right for people to have the right to assisted dying because she’s ‘heading for the big decision’.

‘I started getting interested in the whole subject when my elder brother died and he died a really horrible death,’ she said.

‘And recently, my younger brother died and he died at home with his family around him. And, he didn’t have assisted suicide because he didn’t need it, but he had the sort of death that I think that people who weren’t assisted suicide would dearly love to have, you know, at home their own bed surrounded by their family.’

Prue stressed that ‘everybody should have the choice’.

‘I’m not saying that they have to do it, of course… Because [as the situation is now] it definitely drives people to Switzerland, if they can afford it, and very often to attempted suicide if they can’t afford it.’

Piers Morgan Uncensored airs Monday to Thursday at 8pm on TalkTV.

Abortion is another similarly contentious topic, and last month Mr Kruger was again unafraid to share his opinion on the topic.

He said he doesn’t agree women have ‘an absolute right to bodily autonomy’ in a debate over the American abortion ban.

He also acknowledged that he would ‘probably disagree’ with other MPs about the US Supreme Court decision.

‘They think that women have an absolute right to bodily autonomy in this matter, whereas I think in the case of abortion that right is qualified by the fact that another body is involved,’ he said.

As MPs tried to speak over him, Mr Kruger added: ‘I would offer to members who are trying to talk me down that this is a proper topic for political debate and my point to the frontbench is I don’t understand why we are lecturing the United States on a judgement to return the power of decision over this political question to the states, to democratic decision-makers, rather than leaving it in the hands of the courts.’

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