A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the Heart of the Establishment

I CHECKED THE EBOOK EDITION OUT FROM MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THE LIBRARY, FOLKS, THEY NEED US!

The Emmy-winning TV series available on Amazon is an ideal adaptation of the story told in this book.

The morality play that was Jeremy Thorpe's life is hard to misunderstand: Bisexual in a time when any taint of same-sex love was fatal to a career in any walk of publis life, Thorpe resorted to attempted murder of his younger, unstable ex-lover when he reached power in Parliament. Like any good scandal, this one only *starts* with the title event; as proceedings widen their cast, many renowned British figures of the era are mentions...men whose own sexual misdeeds far, far exceeded Thorpe's consensual buggery. Ironically, Thorpe's attempt to show more forestall scandal is what brought him down (shades of Nixon and Trump!), as he was acquitted of the charge of attempted murder but was never again any force in British politics.

A thumping good read, a slice of history that we cannot seem to keep from replaying, and a story to make one grateful the world has changed as much as it has. show less

The bloody English and their scandals. Always about sex and class and the abuse of the law. This one about Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott. Jeremy Thorpe was a bent politician and a liar and Norman Scott just another hapless fall guy. The lies and sheer disgusting behaviour by so many people in positions of power and authority. God I hate this shit and wonder why I read it, probably just because I am English and once knew someone who was caught up in this and the other abusive scandals that permeate every filthy rotten crag and cranny of the British Establishment. The truth will never come out in England. The establishment is so thoroughly corrupt and corrupted that they probably do not even know what it is, look at Blair, probably the show more most reviled person in recent history and he is so oblivious or contemptuous of that that he is planning a comeback!

If you think that was all in the past just read this:(https://derbyshireindependent.co.uk/2016/04/20/home-office-spooks-smear-campaigner/)

Anyway, a most meticulous book and thoroughly documented and annotated and if you want to know the what the English privileged elite are really like read this book and the one about the Krays (An English Affair: Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo by Richard Davenport-Hines) show less

Thorpe dressed like my father so I was on his side although I can't remember much about the details of the case. I think the consensus in true-blue Leicestershire was they were all as bad as each other. This book has a very clear line: Thorpe was guilty and the establishment protected him. Thee is no ambivalence about it. I really enjoyed reading it, could barely put it down, and felt saddened that homosexuality was once so criminalised that gays could be black mailed, involved in murder plots to avoid coming out.

The story of a government MP who uses and abuses his position of power to not only funnel funds but also amazingly to arrange the murder of his on/off lover Norman Scott, makes for surreal reading. Jeremy Thorpe was a respected eloquent Liberal MP and under the guise of a suave persona he was frightened to reveal to his friends, and in particular his constituents, that he was homosexual. In the politically correct world we live today such a revelation would have had little impact in comparison to the frightened and conservative attitude of 60/70's Britain.

Norman Scott had received and retained a number of sensitive and very private letters from his lover. Thorpe was terrified that Scott would use this correspondence to blackmail him and show more reveal to the world at large secrets of his personal life. When all attempts to retrieve the letters failed Jeremy Thorpe unbelievably decided his only real option was to arrange the execution of Scott. What follows is somewhat farcical; when the hired gunman shoots Norman Scott's dog and turns the weapon to his intended target the said gun jams leaving the hired executioner no option but to flee leaving in his wake a frightened and perplexed Scott.

The world of politics is often a murky arena where the privileged few appear to operate without any thought for the feelings of others and more importantly refusing to accept any accountability. Yet equally the morals we purport to hold today seem no better than the misguided assumptions of 60/70's London. We need look no further than the recent "Windrush" scandal where the home secretary Amber Rudd clearly lied when questioned by a select committee. The fact that the government then replaced the disgraced MP with an ethnically acceptable minister cannot escape the sour taste of duplicity.

"A very English Scandal" was certainly a very informative, witty and entertaining read. The trial that followed the bungled assassination attempt resulted in Jeremy Thorpe being acquitted but it marked the end of his political career. His government seat disappeared under the march of conservatism and the emergence of a new firebrand, the dictatorial residency of one Margaret Thatcher. The novel also makes mention of Cyril Smith, one time heavyweight Liberal MP for Rochdale, and Jimmy Savile a well known TV personality. It is equally disheartening to realise that these repulsive individuals were able to carry out such vile acts of sexual abuse of the innocent never to be unmasked until after their deaths, even though there was overwhelming evidence. In the case of Cyril Smith the Greater Manchester Police, for their own reasons, choose not to bring Smith to justice in his lifetime and for that they should hang their heads in shame. show less

I recall, as a young man, the MP Jeremy Thorpe, a flamboyant MP in the small UK Liberal Party - a party he eventually made even smaller and led to its demise. I also recalled the disasters that overcame him but being in Canada I never took much interest. I knew he ended up facing two murder-related charges but little detail hence me being interested in this book.

The early part of the book "set the table" and didn't do too much for me but the latter two-thirds of the book was satisfying in style, content, and drama.

Context without giving too much away - Thorpe was a bachelor for a long time and very much a homosexual. This was well hidden by him - partly as it would have been toxic to his career plus it was illegal. He eventually, show more conveniently, married, to a woman, likely as it was career convenient but seemed to be fond of her, as much as he was fond of anyone, and really loved his son. But well before the marriage, he was dogged by letters he'd foolishly written and tried many ways to smother. Thorpe had a number of very loyal followers whom he used and abused and especially tried to use to get the damning letters. Incidentally, the police had them too but "buried" them. Several times he tried to use friends to get the evidence and when that failed asked them to murder the letter's owner.

Eventually, the matter ended up in court but he got off courtesy of a very suspect trial.

I felt sullied to read such an account of British society and politicians and police and so on. Worth it especially if you've heard of the lad! show less

Jeremy Thorpe was a rising star of politics, elected leader of the Liberal Party at a young age he felt that his minority party would hold sway between the two major powers in a coalition and that he would wield power. However Thorpe had one big secret, he was a homosexual and in the 1960s homosexuality was still a criminal offence. When Thorpe came into contact with a young man called Norman Joliffe the seeds were sown for his downfall. Nearly twenty years later Thorpe was on trial for conspiracy to murder Norman Scott (as Joliffe was known).

This book has the great advantage of telling a sad and unpleasant story but in an extremely readable style which makes it seem more like a fictional account. Thorpe does not come out of this well show more but it is fascinating to think of the charisma that he must have had, inspiring loyalty in colleagues and friends, even as his 'crimes' escalated. One feels very sorry for the friends that he betrayed but also angered at the callousness Thorpe showed and that idea of entitlement that meant he was above the law. There is a bit of conjecture about a conspiracy theory amongst the upper echelons of political and legal society which meant that Thorpe was acquitted at trial. However this does seem to be a relatively balanced reporting of known facts even if those facts read more like fiction. show less

Very well written and researched, but who wants to know anything about any of these people?