One of the UK’s most high-profile campaigners against assisted dying is being investigated over funding to a parliamentary group that received £55,000 from lobbyists linked to the Christian right.
Westminster’s standards watchdog has opened a case into Danny Kruger, Conservative MP for East Wiltshire, who was chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on dying well from its launch in 2021 until earlier this year.
Kruger is a vocal opponent of assisted dying, writing newspaper articles and fronting a documentary debating the subject with his mother, the Great British Bake Off star Prue Leith.
The website for the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, said the investigation into Kruger related to an alleged breach of the rules for APPGs linked to the “registration of an interest received by the APPG on dying well”.
A second potential breach relates to the “production and publication of an income and expenditure statement by the APPG on dying well”.
All APPGs must produce an accurate statement and promptly declare donations. As the APPG’s chair and registered contact, Kruger was responsible for ensuring the group complied with the rules. The specifics of the allegations are unclear because details of watchdog probes are kept secret while they continue.
But Observer analysis of financial disclosures raises questions about an apparent failure to promptly register several donations from pressure groups. Records indicate that in 2022, the dying well APPG received £37,500 in donations from three anti-assisted-dying campaign groups with strong links to the evangelical Christian right.
Of that figure, £22,500 was not registered until January 2024, according to the group’s entry to the APPG register. Rules for APPGs say registrable benefits worth more than £1,500 should be registered within 28 days. In one case there appears to have been a 564-day gap before a donation from the group’s main funder, Care Not Killing, was declared.
A spokesperson for Danny Kruger said: “The rules state that a member under investigation should not comment publicly on the allegations being investigated. We will therefore not be commenting.”
The parliamentary standards commissioner looks at evidence that individual MPs may have broken the rules of conduct. If a breach is found, MPs will typically be required to apologise and put matters right. More serious breaches are referred to a committee that decides on further action.
It is unclear who made the complaint or why the investigation has been launched now. However, it comes ahead of a key vote on legalising assisted dying by MPs on 29 November.
If adopted, the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill would make it legal for over-18s in England and Wales who have mental capacity and are expected to die within six months to be assisted to end their life. They would have to be assessed by two independent doctors and have the decision signed off by a high court judge. A separate bill is under discussion in Scotland.
Those in favour of legalising assisted dying say it would give terminally ill people control at the end of their lives, alleviating unnecessary suffering. Those opposed fear it could put pressure on people to end their lives.
Kruger, an evangelical Christian, has been vocal in his opposition, arguing for improved palliative care instead. During a Commons debate in April he suggested legalising assisted dying was akin to telling society “that some people would be better off dead”. Last year he fronted a Channel 4 documentary about assisted dying alongside his mother. Leith also wants better palliative care but favours a change in the law, saying: “My feeling is that it should be their death, their decision.”
All-party parliamentary groups have previously been the subject of scrutiny by transparency campaigners, who warned they could be used as a “back door” by lobbyists seeking to influence MPs. The groups are informal committees made up of MPs or members of the House of Lords from different parties who share a common interest. They have no official parliamentary status but can be influential in promoting issues in Westminster.
In the time Kruger was chair, the dying well APPG hosted events attended by anti-assisted-dying campaigners and MPs, including a reception in April at Portcullis House.
Kruger is no longer the chair of the APPG and the membership has recently changed. After a period of inactivity following the general election, it has restarted with a new chair, the Labour and Co-operative MP Rachael Maskell, and a new secretariat, Living and Dying Well, according to transparency records for November. Its previous funders – Care Not Killing, Christian Action, Research and Education (Care) and Jersey Evangelicals – are not mentioned.
Maskell said the three groups were “not involved” in the new APPG “in any capacity”. She added that she had not been made aware of “historic management aspects of the former APPG” under Kruger, adding that the group’s new secretariat was “not a faith-based organisation” and had “come out of the hospice movement”.
Another dying well APPG member, Ilora Finlay, a crossbench peer, said she had been unaware of the investigation into Kruger and that the APPG had recently “started from scratch”.
In total the APPG registered 10 donations worth £55,801 from three Christian pressure groups in the time Kruger was chair, between April 2021 and May 2024. This included funding worth £4,500 to create a website, according to transparency records.
Last week, the Observer revealed that one group that funded the APPG, Care Not Killing, was behind an opaque campaign against assisted dying. The campaign was presented as a grassroots, doctor-led movement, with no mention of its religious affiliation.
Care Not Killing has close links to Care, and shares an office address with the Christian Medical Fellowship – both evangelical organisations opposed to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights as well as assisted dying.
Both Care Not Killing and Care provided funding to the APPG while Kruger was chair – a fact not mentioned on the APPG’s website.
Care Not Killing said it was a “secular” organisation supported by people “of all faiths and none”. Care said concerns about its campaigning methods were “bad faith attacks” by “proponents of assisted suicide”.
The Jersey Evangelical Alliance said it believed assisted dying was “ethically wrong” and that its campaigning complied with charity watchdog rules.
