At the end there was high tension on both sides of a debate that for some was deeply personal

• Assisted dying set to become law in England and Wales after bill passed by MPs

When Kim Leadbeater walked out of the chamber of the House of Commons into parliament’s central lobby, she was embraced by some campaigners who did not even know if they would be alive when the vote came.

“Overwhelmingly the sense is relief,” she said. Her close colleague the Labour MP Lizzi Collinge was near to tears. For the Conservative Kit Malthouse, standing nearby, it was the culmination of a decade of campaigning within his own party. More than 20 of his colleagues – more than he expected – backed the bill.