The Assisted Dying Lobby and its publicists

Very little has been said about the “unelected forces” pushing the Assisted Dying Bill

Amid all the “debates” about assisted dying, very little has been said about the “unelected forces” pushing the bill for it.

Take Guido Fawkes’ recent finding that “the campaign group backing Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill, Dignity in Dying, is ramping up its online advertising game. In the past 90 days alone, they’ve splashed out an eye-watering £181,122 on Facebook and Instagram ads, while since 2018, the total spend has topped £650,000.” Is that not rather important information? Might MPs want to raise this in Parliament, before moving onto the merits of the debate? Who is calling the shots here?

Parts of the media seem to be very interested in the bill, too. Take Paul Brand, the UK Editor of ITV News, who has relentlessly tweeted about assisted dying; perhaps more than you would expect for a news journalist.

You can see even more examples on his X feed.

Another person who appears to have an interest in assisted dying is Carol Vorderman, who - incidentally - hosted Brand at her recent book launch:

Here’s a passage from Vorderman’s book, which mentions Dame Esther Rantzen and assisted dying:

The coincidences don’t just end there. Global, which runs LBC (where Vorderman had a presenting gig) has been pushing the issue hard on its shows, including The News Agents:

Moreover, Global owns an enormous amount of outdoor advertising space in the UK, which has been used for Dignity in Dying adverts - as I spotted at Westminster tube the other day. This is, of course, the place where MPs/ lawmakers are most likely to see adverts.

One of my X followers also spotted the same at Oxford Circus tube:

Another coincidence relates to More in Common, the organisation set up in Jo Cox’s name - which might help explain the link to Leadbeater (this is me speculating rather than proven fact), who seemed to become invested in this issue overnight.

Brand publicised its latest research on assisted dying:

LBC also gave it a plug:

And Carol Vorderman (former LBC - Global - presenter) mentioned director Luke Tryl in a tactical voting campaign for Best for Britain in 2023:

Although many might think of More in Common as a polling firm, it has quite lofty ambitions, working “on both short and longer term initiatives to address the underlying drivers of fracturing and polarization, and build more united, resilient and inclusive societies.” It has become a major force in global democracies…

… seeking to influence public opinion as well as measure it…

… and it’s spurred by big backers:

NB. This year the Tories gave taxpayer funding to one of these:

PAID) Why did the Tories give £250k of taxpayers' money to the Barrow Cadbury Trust?

Anyway, the point of this article is really to point out the “small world” phenomenon I often come across with Labour/ left wing policies.

Maybe all of these connections - between Brand, Vorderman, Global and so forth - are a total coincidence.

Whatever the case, voters deserve to know the funders behind Dignity in Dying.

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