A Christian member of parliament has claimed his faith makes him unfashionable and is likely to affect his political career.
Tory MP Danny Kruger, whose mother is the Bake Off judge Prue Leith, told GB News that our culture’s emphasis on liberal individualism means people who speak out against it are likely to be disadvantaged.
Kruger, who is MP for Devizes in Wiltshire, grew up in an atheist home but 'always felt that wasn't quite adequate' and converted aged 28 after reading the book Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.
He was speaking ahead of a programme where he debates assisted dying with his mother.
The former political secretary to Boris Johnson said: “The religion of our culture at the moment, I'm afraid, is liberal individualism. It's not Christianity. I'm not part of the governing faith of our country at the moment. So that's probably a disadvantage to me.”
Kruger has caused controversy before by speaking out against abortion. He pointed out, in explaining his stance, that “somewhere along the journey towards birth the foetus or baby acquires rights of its own”.
Regarding his opposition to assisted dying, he said: “If somebody is standing on the cliff edge or on a bridge trying to throw themselves off, we do try and stop them. We don't say, 'It's your absolute autonomy to end your life'. We think that it's a bad move to commit suicide,' he said.
He claimed that even people who have a 'terrible diagnosis' and initially feel suicidal sometimes change their minds, and that euthanasia puts vulnerable people such as 'the mentally ill, the disabled, the lonely' at risk, as well as the terminally ill.
The Brexiteer has been made an MBE for his services to charity, after his involvement in founding youth charities Only Connect and West London Zone.