Article: 'It was a hell of a blow to be told I had cancer of the prostate. I didn't even know what the prostate was'; Former Liberal leader David Steel tells David Thomas for the first time about his cancer scare, being a bad parent and why his views on abortion have changed.

Byline: DAVID THOMAS

David Steel, former Liberal Party leader, is a man of God. His father was a minister who rose to become one of Scotland's most senior churchmen. At 66, Lord Steel still retains a strong Christian faith. And yet, as a young MP, he was responsible for the passage of the 1967 Act of Parliament legalising abortion, which many Christians, particularly Catholics, regard as not just misguided but evil.

So I'm not being remotely flippant when I ask if, when the time comes, Steel will be ready to meet his Maker. 'Yes, absolutely,' he says, without a trace of hesitation in his classless Lowlands accent. 'Some people talk as though abortion was ...

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