Bessell's evidence against Thorpe, reported in the Daily Mirror during the pre-trial committal proceedings, November 1978
The Thorpe affair of the 1970s was a British political and sex scandal that ended the career of Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party and Member of Parliament (MP) for North Devon. The scandal arose from allegations by Norman Josiffe (otherwise known as Norman Scott) that he and Thorpe had a homosexual relationship in the early 1960s, and that Thorpe had begun a badly planned conspiracy to murder Josiffe, who was threatening to expose their affair.
Thorpe, while admitting that the two had been friends, denied any such relationship. With the help of political colleagues and a compliant press, he was able to ensure that rumours of misconduct went unreported for more than a decade. Scott's allegations were a persistent threat, however, and by the mid-1970s he was regarded as a danger both to Thorpe and to the Liberal Party, which was then enjoying a resurgence of popularity and was close to a place in government. Attempts to buy or frighten Scott into silence were unsuccessful, and the problem deepened, until the fallout following the shooting of his dog during a possible murder attempt by a hired gunman in October 1975 brought the matter into the open. After further newspaper revelations, Thorpe was forced to resign the Liberal leadership in May 1976, and subsequent police investigations led to him being charged, along with three others, with conspiracy to murder Scott. Before the case came to trial, Thorpe lost his parliamentary seat at the 1979 general election.
At the trial in May 1979, the prosecution's case depended heavily on the evidence of Scott, Thorpe's former parliamentary colleague Peter Bessell, and the hired gunman, Andrew Newton. None of these witnesses impressed the court. Bessell's credibility was undermined by the revelations of his financial arrangements with The Sunday Telegraph. In his summing-up the judge was scathing about the prosecution's evidence, and all four defendants were acquitted. Nevertheless, Thorpe's public reputation was damaged irreparably by the case. He had chosen not to testify at the trial, which left several matters unexplained amid public disquiet.
Thorpe's retirement into private life was followed by the onset of Parkinson's disease in the mid-1980s, and he made few public statements afterwards. He eventually achieved a reconciliation with the North Devon Liberal Democrat constituency party, of which he was honorary president from 1988 until his death in 2014. Allegations of suppression of evidence by the police before the trial were under investigation from 2015, culminating in June 2018 when the police said that there was no new evidence and the case would remain closed.
The Thorpeaffair of the 1970s was a British political and sex scandal that ended the career of Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal Party and Member...
dressage trainer[citation needed] and model who was a key figure in the Thorpeaffair, a major British political scandal of the 1970s. The scandal revolved...
John Jeremy Thorpe (29 April 1929 – 4 December 2014) was a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for North Devon from 1959 to 1979...
Pictures, previously made A Very English Scandal (2018), about the Thorpeaffair. Written and created by Sarah Phelps, A Very British Scandal premiered...
businessman, and accountant notable for his unwitting role in the Thorpeaffair and the honesty, generosity, and integrity with which he conducted himself[citation...
States. The novel details the 1970s Thorpeaffair in Britain, in which former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was tried and acquitted of conspiring...
series is a spiritual sequel to A Very English Scandal (2018), about the Thorpeaffair, and A Very British Scandal (2021), about the Argyll divorce, both of...
James Francis Thorpe (Sac and Fox (Sauk): Wa-Tho-Huk, translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887 – March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic...
became known as the Thorpeaffair. In 1996, Scott Freeman and Barrie Penrose published Rinkagate: Rise and Fall of Jeremy Thorpe. Mascots The Great Dane...
trial of Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe for the attempted murder of Norman Scott in 1979, the Thorpeaffair, when he returned to Britain to testify...
Tate–LaBianca murders (1970) Trial of Jeremy Thorpe for conspiring to murder Norman Josiffe (Thorpeaffair) (1979) Ted Bundy Chi Omega Trial (1979) Claus...
alongside Hugh Grant, and Ben Whishaw, a miniseries about the Jeremy Thorpeaffair directed by Stephen Frears. The film received widespread critical acclaim...
Party was damaged by allegations that Jeremy Thorpe, its former leader, had been involved in a homosexual affair and had conspired to murder his former lover...
Lidia Alma Thorpe (born 1973) is an Aboriginal Australian independent politician. She has been a senator for Victoria since 2020 and is the first Aboriginal...
spotlight of the media during the Jeremy Thorpeaffair and an investigation into the finances of the party under Thorpe's leadership. Philip Watkins was born...
Thorpeaffair—a sex scandal which involved former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe—which starred Hugh Grant as Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Thorpe's former...
half-brother; murdering his stepfather Fraser Black (Jesse Birdsall), his affair with and eventual marriage to his brother Joe Roscoe's (Ayden Callaghan)...
in the Thorpeaffair, of which Thorpe was cleared. In 1979, he gave evidence for the Crown in court when Thorpe was implicated in the affair, letters...
little diplomatic experience. (1976) "Rinkagate": the Thorpeaffair. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was arrested and tried for allegedly paying a hitman...
Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, also known as Betty Pack, Betty Thorpe, Elizabeth Pack, and Amy Brousse; (November 22, 1910 – December 1, 1963) was an Anglo-American...
Kilfedder) Results by area England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales See also Thorpeaffair Labour Isn't Working Winter of Discontent 1979 Scottish devolution referendum...
by marriage as Marion Lascelles, Countess of Harewood, and later Marion Thorpe, was an Austrian-born British concert pianist. Born in Vienna, Stein was...
Global Information