David Cameron opens up about son’s death and ‘black clouds’ of grief
Former prime minister David Cameron has opened up about the death of his six-year-old son Ivan in 2009 – and described the “chaos” of caring for him while balancing a life in politics.
Speaking to Sky’s Kay Burley, the former Tory leader, 58, said the loss of Ivan – who had Ohtahara’s syndrome – was “completely transformational”.
Lord Cameron said: “Bringing up children is hard enough but if you have a child who is having seizures every day, is having to be fed through a tube and needs to be cared for all night as well as all day, who’s going in and out of hospital.
“I can still remember the chaos… of you’re in hospital, then you’re back home, then you’re back again. I had just become an MP [when Ivan was born]. I remember turning up for debates in the House of Commons completely exhausted because I’ve been in St Mary’s Paddington [hospital] all night.
“I remember this great blessing of having your first child. In spite of all the difficulties he had with the seizures and cerebral palsy and everything – you still remember this beautiful, smiling boy that you would rest on your lap and look after and love.
“The extraordinary thing about grief is to start with, there’s nothing but black clouds. But after a while, happy memories do break through.”
Ivan Cameron died in 2009 Pic: Reuters
Politics latest: Sunak tries to wrong-foot Starmer
Lord Cameron, who resigned as prime minister after the 2016 Brexit referendum before returning for a stint as foreign secretary under Rishi Sunak, has recently started working with a joint US-UK venture that aims to develop 40 new treatments for rare diseases in the next decade.
The partnership between the University of Oxford and the Harrington Discovery Institute in Cleveland, Ohio sets out to bring together academia, pharmaceutical companies, philanthropy and venture capital, Lord Cameron has said. He will be the chair of the centre’s advisory council.
👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack and Sam’s wherever you get your podcasts 👈
He told Sky News he believes Ivan’s life “could be very different” if he was born today, saying he and his wife Samantha “didn’t really get an answer” on Ivan’s condition.
“Back then, the first genome was being sequenced, the whole code of the human being – it took seven years and cost $2bn,” he said.
“Today, you can sequence a genome in an afternoon and it will cost you a few hundred dollars so we can see the full DNA, the genetic, biological makeup of a human being.
“That might not provide you with an answer but in some cases it will.
“There are thousands of different rare diseases, but about 80% seem to have a genetic base.
“There have been children born with those sorts of symptoms [that Ivan had] who’ve been identified through genomic medicine, who’ve had treatments, and that has improved their condition.
“There would be a very good chance that if Ivan was born today, and we immediately sequenced the genome, you could spot what was wrong, [and] that you might be able to take steps.”
Read more:
Starmer met Swift at concert after getting free tickets
What could Rachel Reeves announce in the budget?
Salmond’s body to be returned to Scotland as RAF reject request
Lord Cameron also said he felt “lucky” that he and his wife “took the risk” of having more children after Ivan. They share two daughters and another son – Nancy, Florence and Arthur.
“At the time there was no genomics and genetic counselling back then,” he said.
“[It] was, ‘well, maybe it’s genetic, maybe it’s not’. Could be one in four, could be one in 1,000 – who knows?
“I’m lucky we took the risk. We have three happy, healthy children.”
The former prime minister also opened up about assisted dying, which MPs are set to vote on after a bill was introduced in parliament.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
What is assisted dying?
He says he’s “got an open mind” and is “thinking about” the issue.
“I haven’t supported it before on the basis that I’ve always worried about vulnerable people being put under pressure,” he said.
“Once you have some form of assisted dying, what’s the pressure put on people by relatives? I’ve always had that worry and concern.”
But his mind was changed “over the years of watching this debate and listening to the passionate arguments that people have put forward, having also known people with things like motor neurone disease and seen the deterioration and know how awful the end can be”.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
In a wide-ranging interview, he also dismissed claims in Boris Johnson‘s new book that Lord Cameron would “f*** him up” if he supported the Leave campaign in the 2016 Brexit referendum, saying: “That’s not my recollection.
“Any recollection I have is that I had a proper discussion and argument – heated at times.”
Lord Cameron also reflected on a plan to sanction two Israeli ministers while he was foreign secretary, saying it did not go ahead because the work had not been completed and that he was advised it was “a political act in the wrong direction”.
But he added the plan was “a better option than what [Labour] have done in terms of the partial arms embargo on Israel”.
“We do back Israel’s right to self-defence. We just had two missile attacks from Iran into Israel,” he said.
“We’re trying to help prevent that from happening using our own planes and the military. It seems to me utterly bizarre to be banning some arms exports from Israel.”
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
Read more from Sky News:
Trump to be sentenced today over porn star hush money
‘It’s an apocalypse’ – families return to homes reduced to ruins by wildfires
The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports9 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway