Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Lord Carey of Clifton Excerpts

Saturday 10th September 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Carey of Clifton (CB)]

My Lords, I was not intending to contribute to the tributes today until last night, when I realised that we are weaving a tapestry that all our memories, recollections and stories can be part of and which other generations can read in years to come, learning from the mistakes as well as the lessons that our generation can contribute in the light of the Queen’s amazing reign. I was her fifth Archbishop of Canterbury. We have had 15 Prime Ministers, but we archbishops seem to endure a little longer than our political colleagues. Long may that endure. However, that means that if you are an archbishop or a bishop, you have very close relationships with the Royal Family.

I see it as like a hive in which there are lots of parts. Obviously there is Westminster, Sandringham, Windsor and the clergy, which together form a generous establishment. That generosity came out in the most reverend Primate the Archbishop’s speech yesterday when he referred to the umbrella. During the Queen’s time she gave access to that. She made us all feel very welcome. This is no longer the Church of England dominating. We have a Catholic presence in this country that is strong and vigorous, and we saw the impressive contribution that our present King Charles has made to Muslim-Christian secular dialogue.

In my decades I had no royal wedding, sadly, and I even missed two baptisms because I was abroad. However, I had more than my fair share of funerals, such as that of Princess Margaret, who became a very dear friend. I anointed her on her deathbed, and my wife Eileen, who is here, was with me on that occasion. I spent a lot of time with the Queen Mother and learned a lot from that very loving and distinguished lady, who died at the age of 101, and I was able and privileged to preach at her funeral service.

Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Carey of Clifton Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 22nd October 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Carey of Clifton (CB)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, for her excellent introduction to the Bill. It is always a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, who is a very good friend. I was sorry to hear someone say earlier that this is an atheist Bill—in which case, I have obviously travelled a very long way.

In spite of the sharp differences between us today, there is very clear agreement that vulnerable people matter and that we wish a tranquil end for them, and for ourselves, when the time comes. I regret deeply that I am out of step with my own Church, a Church I love because of its breadth, tolerance and great contribution to our nation, as well as other Churches. I may be out of step with the House of Bishops, but I think it is out of step with the vast majority of our nation, including many of its own membership.

We often hear the saying, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”. We should follow that firmly if we truly believe that on the matter of dying all is well and that our practices are above reproach. Alas, things are not just broken, but beyond repair. This is what 84% of the population are telling us. This cannot be argued away when every eight days a person travels to Zurich to end their life and when people suffering from acute and intractable pain implore us to end their lives.

Listen to Jayne from Cardiff, who wrote to me recently about the distress of witnessing her young husband suffer an agonising death from a rare cancer at the age of 31, leaving an infant son:

“The choice my ‘brave’ husband faced wasn’t between living and dying; that was not an option. The choice he wished for was to die on his own terms and not in a way or place he did not want.”


Experiences in Oregon and Canada have been referred to, in some cases disapprovingly. I am in touch with the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon and the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada. In both places, things are going pretty well. Canada is in transition. Listen to Sallie Bowman, a director of spiritual care in Oregon:

“The bar stays pretty high for those wishing to pursue death with dignity ... palliative care has actually expanded greatly here”.


In conclusion, assisted dying is only for those who show a clear-minded and persistent resolution to seek it. It is within the capabilities of medical science to end intolerable suffering peacefully and it is an act of great generosity, kindness and human love to help when it is the will of the only person who matters, the sufferer herself.

Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Carey of Clifton Excerpts

Friday 16th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Suri (Con)]

My Lords, we have spent enough time on terminology. As my noble friend Lord Tebbit said, the dictionary states that suicide is self-murder. I think it is more than that. It is a crime against the maker and nature, and we should abandon this terminology of suicide.

[Lord Carey of Clifton (CB)]

My Lords, I know we all feel very passionately about this matter. I do, intensely. There is a very clear distinction between the two terms, and it lies more in the area of psychology and meaning than anywhere else. In my ministry as a priest and as a bishop, I have dealt with suicidal people and in a number of cases they went on with the clear intention to end their life. I have sat with dying people who, if the law were available, would have ended their life by assisted suicide. There is a clear distinction between the two. I know the rational capacity of some of my friends who wanted to end their intense suffering. They were not suicidal at all; they were clearly determined to find a way for the sake of their loved ones as well as for themselves.

We have had a wonderful debate on this. I think it is time to end it by putting it to the test. I will reject the amendment.

Assisted Dying Bill [HL]

Lord Carey of Clifton Excerpts

Friday 18th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Carey of Clifton (CB)]

My Lords, I, too, echo the opinion of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss: this has been a fascinating debate and there is more to come. There have been inspiring and powerful speeches on both sides.

The noble Lord, Lord Baker of Dorking, drew attention to the article that I wrote last week in the Daily Mail about my change of mind on assisted dying. I regret enormously the shock that I have given friends, some in this House, who disagree with my conclusions, but how can I really repent of a decision that I believe more closely models and reflects God’s mercy and love? I have noted in recent years that those who accept the traditional prohibition on assisted dying tend—this used to be what I did—to conflate and simplify the terrible physical, mental and spiritual experiences of those who make that long and costly journey to Dignitas in Zurich and the normal experience of terminally ill people in our hospices. Like noble Lords, I have the greatest admiration for the work of our hospices, but even the best palliative care does not meet all needs. Dr Rajesh Munglani, the well known expert in pain management, writes that he frequently sees cases of excruciating pain that are unresponsive to powerful analgesics and can be alleviated only by very heavy sedation, to the point of unconsciousness.

I have, frankly, been shocked by the experience of those with whom I have discussed this. Let me give an illustration. Joan—not her real name—wrote to me about her act of assisting her close friend to die. Her friend was a woman suffering unbearable agonies, double incontinence and helplessness. She begged and pleaded with Joan over a number of years to help her to die. She was too ill to travel to Zurich. Joan very reluctantly agreed and, one evening, helped her friend to die. It was not an easy death because the lady was unable to swallow easily and the dose went down with difficulty. After the death, she phoned the police, was arrested and went through the experience that the noble Lord, Lord Blair of Boughton, illustrated. Eventually the DPP dropped the charges against her, but it is such cases that drive the demand for change.

Opinion polls show that at least 80% of the British population think that terminally ill adults should have the choice of an assisted death. That number includes many Christian people who believe, as I do now, that being a Christian is quite compatible with supporting the Bill. We need to bear that 80% in mind when we hear the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, saying, rightly, that our mailbag illustrates almost the other side of this. That figure of 80% of the population means that all our churches should listen to the heartlands and to what people are saying to us.

When suffering is so great that some patients, already knowing that they are at the end of life, make repeated pleas to die, it seems a denial of that loving compassion which is the hallmark of Christianity to refuse to allow them to fulfil their own clearly stated request—after, of course, a proper process of safeguards has been observed. If we truly love our neighbours as ourselves, how can we deny them the death that we would wish for ourselves in such a condition? That is what I would want.

As to those who chide me—and they have—by saying that my argument and change of heart are light on theological backing, let me tell them what my theology is all about. It is about accompanying those very sick and dying people to that place where they feel most abandoned, where they are already experiencing their own Calvary or Golgotha, and where they need us to be with them to help them find peace of mind and to help them on that journey. If that is not theology of the best and purest kind, I do not know what is. That is why I support the Bill.