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Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott

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Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott Reviews who finds them guilty.2 In one of the few Jeremy Thorpe and Norman Scott areas in which Buczacki offers some- thing entirely new, he criticises Asquith John Preston, A Very English Scandal: Sex, Lies and a Murder Plot at the as unfaithful in a wider sense to Margot. Heart of the Establishment (Viking, 2016) Asquith liked young women and we are given much more detail on Asquith as Review by Michael Steed a ‘groper’. Buczacki does not comment on the difference in power and status ven if he had never met Norman following his death.1 So when he needed between them. Scott, Jeremy Thorpe would be help with his personal problems, Thorpe He does not criticise Venetia for her Ea controversial figure in Liberal was able to call on the devotion of both contribution to Asquith’s unfaithfulness Party history. His firmly upper-class Bessell and a lifelong personal friend, as she allowed Asquith to make fervent style was strikingly at odds with the David Holmes, to put their energies and assertions of love towards her. Buczacki zeitgeist of the 1960s, and so with the dubious skills at the service of their idol. does not quote Asquith’s letter to her ethos of young recruits to the Liberal The series of unlikely subterfuges and after she assured him that she did not cause who were flocking into the party ultimate (maybe murder) plot may sound want him ever to stop loving her and at that time. Yet his principled stances more like fiction; but I, and others, can wanting her. on Europe, on apartheid and on human attest that such high-risk, half-serious No new insights are offered on the rights generally not only proclaimed a and half-baked conspiratorial behav- reasons why she decided to marry Edwin continuity with classic Gladstonian Lib- iour was very much in character for the Montagu despite her physical repulsion eralism, they were highly relevant to Jeremy Thorpe we knew. Preston’s is towards him. Extraordinarily, Buczacki this period’s political agenda. His per- an interesting, and legitimate, take on omits her statement to Montagu that she sonal impact on the peak electoral per- Thorpe. ‘agreed to have some relationship with formance of the party in February 1974 That take relies overmuch on Bessell him whenever she chose, while retain- is undeniable; yet when he resigned as and Holmes, both of whom Preston con- ing her right to have sex outside the leader in 1976, it still had only thirteen siders as reliable sources. So he concludes marriage’.3 MPs compared to the dozen that Jo Gri- that murder was the unquestionable The letter Asquith received on 12 May mond had bequeathed him in 1967. The intention of the conspiracy (which was was a hammer blow. Buczacki strangely thirteen did represent a much higher undoubtedly Thorpe-inspired) that led does not comment on the extent to Liberal vote in the October 1974 election to the shooting of Scott’s dog and thence which Asquith’s decision, on 17 May, to than the dozen had after 1966; yet in two to the Old Bailey trial. In thriller style, form a coalition was significantly influ- out the three election campaigns where Preston makes that the clear destination. enced by his emotional turmoil. Thorpe lead the party, it lost ground in This contrasts with the sceptical stance There is nothing of political signifi- votes badly. of Michael Bloch2 who, in my judgement, cance in Venetia’s remaining thirty-three John Preston’s study of Jeremy Thor- understood the complex psychology of years. She continued to have distaste for pe’s role in wider social history, the Jeremy, the adored only son of Ursula, physical relations with Montagu, but events which lead to his 1979 trial for a very much better. Bloch’s biography, had affairs including at least two before murder plot, has only a little direct rel- published in December 2014, immedi- Montagu died in 1924. She was uncaring evance to his role as Liberal leader. Pres- ately after Thorpe’s death, examines the in bringing up her (probably not their) ton, a fiction writer and journalist rather evidence forensically; Preston is not a daughter Judith. The book shows Vene- than historian, tells it as a racy thriller, detective. Bloch also researched the sub- tia was entirely self-centred and self-sat- starting with a conspiratorial dinner ject more thoroughly. There are several, isfying as she pursued the ‘fun’ which she conversation between Jeremy and a fel- had set as her mantra for life as a young low Liberal MP Peter Bessell in Febru- woman. Buczacki’s aim, to contradict ary 1965. Bessell, it turns out, is almost what he claims to have been the poor as much the central character of Preston’s press about her, has not been achieved. tale as Thorpe. But not quite; the plot weaves around Thorpe’s use of Bessell, Alan Mumford’s most recent article for the and the latter’s adulation of Thorpe. Bes- Journal was ‘Churchill and Lloyd George: sell’s own career was a distorted reflec- Liberal Authors on the Great War?’ His tion of his hero’s. His finale – his pitiful forthcoming article for the Journal is ‘Asquith: performance at Thorpe’s trial – was of Friendship, Love and Betrayal’. He is the the worm that turned. author of a number of books on political car- Herein lies some value for the politi- toons, most recently a cartoon biography of cal historian in Preston’s study. Jeremy Lloyd George. Thorpe had an extraordinary magnet- ism, which led to widespread adoration, 1 M. and E. Brock (eds.), H. H. Asquith Letters from North Devon constituents to lead- to Venetia Stanley (Oxford University Press, ing Liberal activists. His transgressions 1982). were not to be believed. He was able to 2 O. Popplewell, The Prime Minister and his Mis- sell meagre political achievements as tress (Lulu Publishing Services, 2014). triumphs; he has even cast a spell over 3 N. B. Levine, Politics Religion and Love (New some political historians, as evidenced York University Press, 1991). in the issues of this journal immediately Journal of Liberal History 95 Summer 2017 39 A Liberal Democrat History Group fringe meeting Liberals in local government 1967 – 2017 The Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors (ALDC) was founded, as the Association of Liberal Councillors, fifty years ago. At this meeting, organised in conjunction with ALDC, we celebrate its 50th anniversary and discuss the role of Liberals and Liberal Democrats in local government. What has the party achieved in local government? To what extent has it taken a distinctively liberal approach? Speakers: Cllr Sara Bedford (Leader, Three Valleys District Council), Cllr Ruth Dombey (Leader, Sutton Council), Lord Tony Greaves (long-serving councillor, Pendle Borough Council), Cllr Richard Kemp (Leader, Liberal Democrats on Liverpool City Council), Baroness Kath Pinnock (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, former Leader of Kirklees Council) and Matt Cole (University of Birmingham). Chair: Lord Andrew Stunell (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Communities and Local Government, 2010–12). 7.45pm, Sunday 17 September Bayview 2, Bournemouth International Centre (conference pass required) mostly small, discrepancies between the the role of ‘The Establishment’. Jeremy So there remains scope for research two authors; where I am aware of which was certainly born and bred in the heart into how the authorities decided what is correct, it is usually Bloch. of the establishment, and frequently charge Jeremy Thorpe was to face, and Preston is looking for colour in his used his connections to deflect Norman whether at that stage he was protected tale, and finds it in Bessell’s private life, Scott’s accusations. He was immensely by his social circle. If it was an estab- thereby adding (heterosexual) spice to aided by Scott’s inadequate grip on the lishment stitch-up, Preston illustrates the story. It is also some contribution truth – he had indeed fantasised about the affair rather than examining and to Liberal history, since Peter Bessell, having a gay affair with Jeremy before proving it. Liberal MP for Bodmin 1964–70, is an it actually happened. But was there an understandably neglected figure. Bod- establishment cover-up to protect the old Michael Steed fought four parliamentary elec- min was the only English seat gained Etonian culminating, as Bessell himself tions (including two high-profile by-elections) from the Conservatives at the 1964 thought, in the acquittal? during the leadership of Jeremy Thorpe, and election and Bessell therefore a Liberal Preston thinks so, telling the story was President of the Liberal Party in 1978–79, star in the mid-sixties.3 He was also a from that angle. Curiously, then, he does the year of Thorpe’s defeat and trial. good example of what was once typi- not raise the question of why Thorpe and cal of mid-twentieth-century Liberal his co-conspirators were subject only 1 Journal of Liberal History, nos. 85 and 86. candidates – the mixture of passionate to the most serious charge, involving 2 Michael Bloch, Jeremy Thorpe (Little Brown, Nonconformist and small business entre- intent to murder, which was never going 2014), reviewed by David Steel in the Journal preneur. Preston’s fairly full account of to be easy to prove. The New States- of Liberal History, no. 90. Bessell’s political career brings back my man interview with one of the jurors 3 Garry Tregidga, in his entry on Peter Bessell own direct memories of Peter’s energy, leaves no doubt that the four defendants in the Dictionary of Liberal Biography, argues style, quirky views and problematic tem- would have been found guilty, ‘If the strongly for Bessell’s role in developing cam- perament.
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