Dame Esther Rantzen became a key figure in the assisted dying conversation

Dame Esther Rantzen was a high-profile figure in the assisted dying debate (Esther Rantzen/PA) - (PA Media)

Dame Esther Rantzen was one of the best-known faces of the campaign to legalise assisted dying and had shared her personal health issues as part of a last-ditch plea to MPs to change the law.

It was in December 2023 that she first told how she had joined the Swiss assisted dying clinic Dignitas, in an effort to give herself an option in the face of her diagnosis of stage four cancer.