Eastbourne - The Liberal Democrats became Britain's first major political party to demand an inquiry that could lead to the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.
Delegates to the annual conference of Britain's third party voted by about three to one for a motion calling for an official Royal Commission to investigate whether doctors should be allowed to help suffering and terminally ill patients to die.
The vote was a triumph for Sir Ludovic Kennedy, a veteran Liberal and the president of Britain's Voluntary Euthanasia Society.