Journalist Phil Such today vowed to keep up his hunger strike until Prime Minister Tony Blair takes up his challenge to reopen the debate over legalising voluntary euthanasia.

The former Gazette reporter is dying of motor neurone disease (MND).

He wants the choice of when to end his suffering from the debilitating wasting disease, which claimed the life of his mother five years ago.

Mr Such, 37, had hoped Mr Blair would have brought up the issue at Question Time but he did not.

"I began my hunger strike on February 18. It will go on until the issue is brought up," he said.

"I promised to eat again once the Prime Minister raised the issue in the House of Commons and that is my stand."

Mr Such said he had also promised to tap dance around his bedroom.

"That was my sense of humour, as I am confined to a wheelchair. It was all part of me trying to get the message across," he added.

Deborah Annetts, director of the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, said Tony Blair had missed an opportunity to respond to a dying man's protest over current UK law, which denies him the right to choose how and when he dies.

Gazette reader Andy Fairbrother, who has suffered from MND for the past three years, also supported Mr Such, who now lives in Somerset.

"I remain hopeful but agree that we, who are in this exclusive club, should have the choice," he said.

Published Monday, March 4, 2002