Politicians from all three main parties put aside their differences today to give heartfelt condolences to David Cameron and his family over the death of his six-year-old son, Ivan.
The Conservative leader's first child, who suffered from a rare form of cerebral palsy involving severe degenerative seizures, died at a hospital in West London this morning after being taken ill overnight.
At a tributes session in Parliament which replaced the scheduled Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), Gordon Brown led condolences over the death of Ivan, who had suffered from Ohtohara Syndrome, a neurological condition from which he was not expected to survive childhood.
The Prime Minister was followed by William Hague, the Conservatives’ Shadow Foreign Secretary, and Vincent Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman and acting leader, in making their own tributes. Buckingham Palace later said the Queen had also sent a private tribute to the Camerons.
Mr Brown, whose own baby daughter died in 2002, empathised with the “unbearable” sorrow which the Tory leader and his family must be feeling.
“I know that, in an all-too-brief life, he brought joy to all those around him and I know also that, for all the days of his life, he was surrounded by his family’s love,” the Prime Minister said.
“Every child is precious and irreplaceable and the death of a child is an unbearable sorrow that no parent should ever have to endure.”
He added: “Politics can sometimes divide us, but there is a common human bond that unites us in sympathy and compassion at times of trial and in support for each other at times of grief.”
Mr Hague thanked Mr Brown for his tributes and for the “exceptional” step of suggesting the suspension of PMQs, the weekly half-hour heated debate between party leaders.
He passed on a tribute from the Cameron family to all the NHS workers and staff who had given Ivan almost daily care during his short life.
“As much as anyone in the House, the Prime Minister will understand the dimensions of this loss, something which, as he has said, no parIvan’s six years of life were not easy ones. His parents lived with the knowledge for a long time that he could die young but this has made their loss no less heartbreaking.”
He added that Ivan had “suffered much in his short life but he brought joy and love to those around him. As David himself has said in the past, for him and Samantha he will always be their beautiful boy”.
Mr Cable expressed a hope that the Cameron family would be given time to grieve and come to terms with their loss.
“I would simply express the hope that this is a personal tragedy that transcends all party barriers, and I would simply want to express the hope that the family are given the space and there is privacy to grieve and cope with this tragedy that they have experienced,” he said.
After years of struggling against his rare illness, Ivan’s passing was confirmed by a Conservative statement released this morning following an overnight deterioration in his condition.
“It is with great sadness that David and Samantha Cameron must confirm the death of their six-year-old son Ivan," the Conservative Party said.
“Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy, was taken ill overnight and died at St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, early this morning.
"David and Samantha would ask that their privacy is respected at this terribly difficult time.”
Ivan, who suffered frequent epileptic fits ever since his birth in April 2002, had needed 24-hour care.
Mr Cameron, who has two other children, Nancy, 5, and three-year-old Arthur, had in the past spoken movingly about the “very grim and difficult period” he and his wife endured after learning of Ivan's condition.
“You are depressed for a while because you are grieving for the differences between your hopes and the reality,” he said.
The Tory leader said his son had changed his attitude towards public services, and the NHS in particular, as he became far more reliant on the health service than most politicians.
Mr Cameron cancelled all of his engagements today, including the unveiling of a new portrait of Baroness Thatcher at Number 10, at which Mr Brown was also due to attend. That event was postponed.
PMQs has been cancelled in the past for a variety of reasons. On the day in 1994 that the former Labour leader John Smith died, the Speaker rose to announce his death and suspended the sitting before resuming it at 3.30pm for tributes. Other sessions in the past have been "lost" when the previous day's business has overrun.
Source:the times
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